Hakuta had a crazy day yesterday. Between Ino’s reveal as the masked gamer and his supposedly date with Ninka. He was tired from having to be put through so many things. The former was already crazy enough as it was, but he wasn’t helped with not being able to process those feelings after having to spend more time with the latter.

This being so strange to him led to the boy not even wanting to boot up his computer as he sat blankly on his chair. He knew if he did turn it on, that he might be tempted to want to go message Ino to try and talk to her about her secret. But while he might want to, he also didn’t want to at the same time. There was a part of him which worried about what he might have to confront getting deeper into the story. Perhaps this was his mind filled with regret over chasing this secret for so long. Since knowing about it now only left more disappointment than anything else.

“What should I do?” He asked himself out loud. Just sitting around was a bit of a waste to a nice summer day, but it wasn’t like he was exactly in the mood for this. Being all by himself also did little to calm his nerves, as this left all those thoughts running around his head without a way to release himself. If only he wasn’t trapped with all these secrets he was forced to keep from the outside world.

“Ta da!” As if answering his call for help, Shiuka barged her way into his room without warning and announced her presence.

“Ahhh!” Hakuta was shocked back into reality with her coming inside without even giving him a chance to prepare. Were he not just sitting down at his desk aimlessly, it could’ve been embarrassing. Even now he was more than just flustered as her slamming open his door caused the boy to leap out of his seat and fall hard onto the ground. “Why can’t you knock at least once?” He scolded her, stilling laying down.

“What are you so worried about? All you ever do is game in here.” He couldn’t tell if she was being naive about what teenage boys might be doing all alone in her room. Or if she was actually just right that all he did was play video games. The latter was sounding much more like the truth when he thought about it more. “Anyway, I came in because I wanted to show you this.” She put up a video game case and presented it with pride.

“You got a video game?” He stood back up and took it from her. “Doesn’t look to special, and I don’t think it’s new either.” Hakuta would know since he kept track of all the latest releases. From the game’s title, it appeared to be a couple years old. “You don’t even need to ask me to borrow my console. Isn’t this for the other one your dad got?”

“Did you already forget your promise?” She replied with a giggle. “You said we could have a game night, just the two of us.” He realized he had indeed told her that he would do that for her.

“You couldn’t have given me a week notice?” A part of him wasn’t in the mood to be playing random video games. But at the same time, it also provided him the opportunity to distract himself from his other worries. “Whatever, sure we can hang out for tonight.”

“Yay!” She jumped up in joy as she put him out of his room. “If we’re going to do this, then we totally got to make it special.” Said Shiuka as she parked him into the living room while she made her way into the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” He asked as the boy set up the game console with their new game. It was a popular game titled ‘Gasp of the Savage’. The latest in a famous franchise where he was certain there was to be a sequel coming out soon.

“Clearly we need to have…” She exited the kitchen carrying a wide array of bags and a box of cans. “Some snacks, obviously.” To her, this was like those movie nights she would share with friends and therefore needed the same things to really get into a good night of gaming.

“Can’t argue with that.” He replied, taking one of the bag and sitting back onto the couch. “But this isn’t a multiplayer game, so I guess you should just play and I’ll watch.”

“You don’t want to play?” She was surprised that it was him between the two of them who wanted to kick back for once.

“You’re the one who bought the game.” He answered. “Seems right that you’re the one who at least gets to experience the intro.”

“Okay.” She took a chip and the controller and fired up the game. As per usual, they went through the normal splash screens showing off the developer credits and even watched the pregame cutscene as well. Hakuta didn’t normally experience gaming like this, where one would sit back as if it were a movie. Then again, he normally was playing these titles himself, so his mood was in a different place. But it was nice to get this cinematic feeling to something.

Finally after a long while, she got into the main menu and loaded into a new game. It was here where his immersion was broken as Shiuka proved herself to be rather mediocre at video games. The tutorial actually gave her a challenge and this inspired little confidence in him that she’d be able to get far into the game before needing to hand it off to him so they’d be able to make actual progress.

Fortunately this didn’t need to be the case for the initial moments of the actual game. Since it was an open world with few restrictions, Shiuka was more than free to go anywhere she wanted. Which meant that areas with tough enemies she avoided since it would’ve ended with her being killed. Things were also alleviated when the game was being rather forgiving with giving her plenty of health to deal with encounters so she would never get into trouble.

While she played, the girl began to get much more comfortable on the couch they shared. Hakuta had already been comfortable on his own, sitting back to enjoy the show while he munched on some junk food. But she had been more upright when starting the game, being focused on trying her best. Eventually once she got a handle on the controls, she began to relax her body and lay back as well.

This had the effect of her slowly, but surely, she rest her body off to the side. Which was right on top of his body. Shiuka didn’t seem to notice what she was doing as her focus was put more on the game itself, but he couldn’t ignore it. Unlike her, Hakuta was only watching and was more able to look around to his surroundings. He would’ve said something, but got a bit nervous on pointing this out to her. A part of the boy didn’t want this small, perhaps even insignificant, moment between them.

She really was unaware of what was going on, he thought as they sat. His gaze now turned from the bright screen in their dark room to only her face, which had been illuminated gently by the screen. Her face turning different hues depending on what actions occurred on screen.

Was he this unaware of what went around him while playing video games too? Or was this due to her lack of experience, requiring more attention than someone like him who could play certain games blindfolded with one hand tied around his back.

Either way, he didn’t want this moment to end, but it eventually would find its conclusion in a manner neither of them expected. As they sat alone together in a nearly dark room, the pair were both shocked into reality when they heard the doorbell ringing. The two both sat straight up and turned their attention to the front door.

“Were you expecting someone?” He asked her, wondering who could be showing up randomly at this hour. Though the fact they put the curtains down messed his sense of time up. It was still only afternoon, so the idea of someone showing was not out of the realm of possibility.

“No?” She replied, just as confused as he was. “That’s weird, I don’t think Noto had any business with me today.” It was normal for Iruka’s dad to come by unannounced, at least from Hakuta’s point-of-view. But at least he would already have things planned out with Shiuka, since she was essentially his boss.

“Weird.” Also strange to him was his sudden urge to tell her to call him Omihiro instead. Perhaps hearing the man telling them they were free to use his first name was beginning to have an effect on Hakuta.

“Oh well, we can just look at the camera for the front door.” She whipped out her phone to check. After remembering her family had a security system, Shiuka took the time to upgrade a few things so that she could use an app on her smart phone to be able to look through them at any time as long as she was connected to the internet. “Uuoh!?” She gave out an audible gasp in shock.

“What’s wrong?” He took a peek at her phone to see what had apparently scared the daylights out of the girl. Then it became Hakuta’s turn to feel the fear as they both saw all the gals standing at the front entrance.