NOVEL NEXT Chapter 388
Hrum…
“…Why?”
When I turned to look, Yuka, who was walking beside me, made a strange snorting sound as if she found something amusing.
“Not really. I was just wondering if you liked this kind of stuff.”
“……”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words at Yuka’s remark. I seemed to have surveyed the surroundings a bit more seriously than I intended, especially staring at the second-hand figure shop.
Thinking about it again, maybe it would have been better if Sota and Shii were here instead. Sota was kind of an otaku after all.
Even if it was not overtly obvious, depictions of going to Akihabara or playing games or reading comic books would come up. But since my younger sister Shii was somewhat strict, I don’t think she would let me buy anything overly provocative.
But Yuka… well, topics related to that kind of stuff had never come up. Did she wear a maid outfit during the school festival? I wasn’t sure. In those kinds of novels, it’s usually a common scene, so I might have gotten confused.
“I like it.”
After a moment of hesitation, I answered.
“Uh?”
Maybe it was because I replied too straightforwardly, but Yuka looked a bit flustered and asked back.
“I like things like comics.”
When fleeing, it’s not something you can easily carry. In the 2020s, you could just get by with a smartphone, but during this time, all those media had tangible weight. Even in an age where music had transitioned to CDs, thinking of having to lug around a bunch of CDs indeed felt like a burden.
We could barely manage to carry around the photos we took. There was no way we could escape carrying a bunch of comic books.
…I didn’t mention that much to Yuka, but it seems she also sensed a bit of that. After all, she knew that I’ve moved around a lot.
“I see.”
With a serious expression, Yuka nodded.
“Then how about buying at least one? You’re doing a bit more stable now, aren’t you?”
“I guess so.”
I smiled bitterly.
“If I show it to my mom, I feel like it would be a bit embarrassing.”
Unfortunately, I tend to think about things in terms of ‘age’. Oh, in my previous life, I hardly ever thought about such things, but it became a habit after coming here. Just like how Kagami was an unreasonably ideal mother to me, I wanted to be an ideal daughter in front of Kagami too. As a child, you should be innocent, as a teenager, mature, and in your twenties, you ought to be a great adult.
That was some sort of rule I had set for myself…
And the perfect daughter I envisioned wouldn’t buy such things.
…
Well, to be honest, one of the reasons is genuine embarrassment. Perhaps the embarrassment is the real reason, and I made up some plausible excuse to hide that embarrassment.
“You don’t look like someone who would be scary at all.”
“My mom isn’t scary. I’m the one who’s embarrassed.”
As I answered like that, Yuka somehow found it amusing and chuckled a bit.
“You’re impressive.”
“…Really?”
“I can’t even do that in front of my dad or grandpa. Despite how I look, I’m quite free-spirited.”
Yuka is fine like that.
After all, didn’t she grow up not being able to do everything she wanted? To control the accumulated stress, I thought that doing what you wanted wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“Um, alright.”
Yuka nodded and said.
“Then shall we explore a bit more thoroughly?”
“Eh?”
“You really just came to Akihabara to sightsee? We should buy something. There’s so much to buy. We should eat something and play games too.”
“Can you play games?”
“Of course! Don’t you know?”
Yuka looked at me as if it was the most bizarre thing ever.
“I know the theory.”
I answered, feeling a bit pride hurt.
Harumi didn’t like games that much. Rather, she preferred to run around, sightseeing, and eating various things. Arcade games cost quite a bit, and our allowance was somewhat limited.
Yuuki was even less interested in games than Harumi. Usually, he preferred quietly staying at home, and even when he went out, he would often hang back, watching us play from a distance.
Naturally, I wasn’t good at games in this world.
“Oh, but I’ve tried claw machines before.”
“And just what have you been doing until now?”
Yuka asked, looking astonished.
Well, that feels a bit unfair.
In the summer, we went to the seaside, in the winter we had Christmas parties, and during New Year, we went to shrines for fun. Even when I moved to different places, that pattern hardly changed.
But to treat me like this just because I didn’t visit arcades was kind of frustrating.
“Alright, follow me.”
Yuka patted my shoulder and said.
“I’m going to teach you a thing or two.”
“……”
Do you really know?
An otaku might endure it if I said the works I watch are boring, but they can’t tolerate being told they can’t play games. Even if I lose, it’s only right to fight back against that remark.
Moreover, I spent my childhood in this era. Even if that place was a completely different country, the types of games I played in my childhood arcades weren’t hugely different from this world.
There were some games I kept playing afterward as well.
Though time had passed, if I could retrieve the instinctively remembered parts—
*
—I’d be utterly defeated.
“What? You’ve got some skill after all?”
Yuka peeked her head over the arcade machine and said that, but I was trembling in my shoulders.
Frustrating.
It bothers me to lose to a girl much younger than me. Even if I’d been out of practice for so long, it’s not like I had poor reflexes…!
“Do you want to play another round?”
Seeing my expression, Yuka said.
“…Let’s do it.”
I found myself reverting back to the quiet version of myself after a long time.
Has my heightened emotional state really been influenced by this body?
“Alright. I’m probably going to lose anyway.”
No, maybe it’s just that Yuka was simply good at getting on people’s nerves.
…Well, yeah. I probably faced a lot of enemies while fighting with a knife. Some yōkai have quite a strong sense of pride. Teasing them to make them angry could be helpful.
So—
Ah, right.
If I think about it that way, I was currently falling into her trap.
*
Eventually, after getting completely defeated, I simply acknowledged my loss.
“You’re surprisingly tenacious.”
As Yuka commented outside the arcade, she gave an unfair evaluation of me.
“You can control the character, whereas I can’t even choose the character I’m good with. How is that fair?”
“……”
“Besides, I even taught you my techniques.”
I ultimately couldn’t refute Yuka’s words.
“Well, fine… Ah! I thought of something we could buy!”
Yuka clapped her hands and dashed ahead.
I hurried to chase after Yuka.
“Oh, it’s right here.”
The place we found was a small second-hand game shop nestled between buildings. It looks a bit old and narrow but strangely had a decent crowd.
“I have an old game console at home. I sometimes take it out to play.”
“I see…”
As I marveled at this new piece of information, Yuka entered the shop.
Inside, Yuka picked out and handed me an old handheld game console. It didn’t even have a backlight, requiring light reflection to see, and it only had a black-and-white screen, but it was enormous and took four batteries.
She bought that game console and a few game cartridges.
“This wouldn’t be too embarrassing to have at home, right?”
“Ah, um… Thank you.”
Even though it was second-hand and priced a bit high, Yuka casually bought it and handed it over.
The game we used to play together was a fighting game. Well, the button count is far fewer, so the feeling of play would be quite different.
“……”
I stared down at the game console for a while.
A smile unconsciously formed on my lips.
A handheld console. It was something I really wanted during childhood. But I didn’t ask for one because I felt shy.
Even though it was an old second-hand model, it has its own charm. Maybe it’s even better because of that.
“Thank you!”
When I shouted cheerfully, Yuka blinked her eyes in surprise.
“Uh, there’s no need to thank me that much.”
Yuka turned a bit embarrassed, scratching her cheek and averting her gaze.
*
After looking around a bit more, taking a light snack, it was about time for Dad to come pick us up.
While standing nearby and waiting idly, Yuka was subtly glancing at me.
“What?”
When I tilted my head and asked, Yuka pondered seriously for a moment, then bowed her head and tapped her foot on the ground.
“Uh, it’s nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah… Um, it’s just that dinner time is coming up, right? You’ll eat at home.”
“Right?”
“Then, how about having dinner together?”
“…Dinner?”
I asked, surprised, and Yuka turned her head away.
“Uh, not really.”
Yuka said.
“It just seems like it would be more fun to hang out a little longer. Especially since tomorrow is a holiday.”
“……”
I stared blankly at Yuka.
“If you want… I can lend you some clothes.”
Yuka carefully turned her head to glance at me.
“Don’t you want that?”
I blinked, then—
After a moment’s serious hesitation—
Finally, I made up my mind and said.
“I’ll ask my mom.”
That’s right.
Above all else, in this case, Kagami was the one I was most worried about.