Fate (9)
What's going on… Why has he been so busy lately? He never used to be like this. Ever since we became real friends, it's been especially noticeable. Don't tell me he's doing this because I teased him about not having friends. That was… I mean… that wasn't what I meant at all. Ha—damn it! I just wanted to ask if he had any closer friends than me. Somehow, I ended up feeling closest to him. But if he has someone even closer than me, that would be a little… upsetting, right? I'm Do Yu-hwa, after all…?! You seem to genuinely think of me as a friend… so I thought you wanted to share a real friendship, different from everyone else. Honestly, I was sick of being surrounded by nothing but shallow acquaintances. That's why I planned to cut ties with all of them and only hang out with real friends from now on. But!! But how dare you keep ditching me to play with someone else? When I'm right here?! Huh? Are you out of your mind?! I kept wondering where you were disappearing to during lunch. Turns out you're going to meet that senior. How did you even get close to her in the first place? It's not like you knew her before me. So I should be the closer one, right? But instead of hanging out with me, you're going to the PC bang with her right now…? You wouldn't even go to the school store with me, but you'd go meet her? Aaaagh—!!! Haa… Am I seriously jealous right now?! Ridiculous… This is absurd. Why would I be jealous? I'm just annoyed that she seems closer to him than I am. …… Well, I do have that synergy nickname with him. Yeah, I shouldn't let something like this bother me. This isn't like me at all. It was probably just a coincidence that our paths kept overlapping. It's not like he's deliberately avoiding me. And he doesn't dislike me either. Right, there's no way he could hate me. So… that means I'm still his closest friend, right?!
“Senior!” I called out the title briefly and approached Nabi Senbae.
“Hey. You got a really good seat.”
“The corner window seat is definitely nice, right?”
In truth, it had been an even better seat before, but I didn't bother mentioning it. I couldn't exactly say I'd had it taken by Do Yu-hwa.
“And the person right behind you is her, huh?”
“Yeah… by chance.”
“If you're sitting right in front of each other like that, you must be pretty close.”
Senbae seemed to accept the situation between Yu-hwa and me on her own.
“Right? Though I have no idea where those weird rumors came from… haha.”
I knew Seo Hye-in was behind them, but I pretended not to.
“Yeah, you two were just friends. Someone must've misunderstood.”
We walked down the stairs together and soon arrived at the main entrance.
“By the way, you could've just come into the classroom earlier.”
“Ah…” Senbae hesitated, unable to come up with a proper excuse.
“Oh, I was worried that if I didn't find you quickly, I'd end up making you wait too long.”
“Mm-hmm. But I felt a bit awkward just walking in…”
“Huh? Why?”
“There wasn't a single person I knew besides you… It was kind of embarrassing.”
Senbae said this in a shrinking voice, as if she was embarrassed just by saying it out loud. The intense side she'd shown me earlier was nowhere to be seen… So she gets shy about things like this too. Well, it's cute, at least. I felt the corner of my mouth twitch upward without realizing it.
“Do you go to PC bangs often?”
We walked along the long path leading to the school gate.
“No? I've barely ever been.”
That was unexpected. Since she'd brought up the PC bang so casually, I'd assumed she went there regularly.
“Really? I thought you went all the time.”
“Mm-mm, nope. I can just play at home.”
“Then why now?”
“Well… it's more fun to play together. And I wanted to try it.”
Senbae answered with a gentle smile. From the way she said it, it sounded like she'd never had anyone to go with before. Even though she was active enough to join the Student Discipline Committee, could that really be true?!
“That's true. Sitting side by side while playing feels different.”
I matched her words for now as we walked.
. . .
We arrived at the PC bang like that. Maybe because it was near our school, the place was packed with students in the same uniform.
“Hmm… seats…”
And because it was Friday, it was especially crowded, making it hard to find empty seats.
“How about we just sit here?! There don't seem to be many seats for two together.”
Senbae pointed to a spot with her finger. And of course, it was a couple seat. Unlike the other seats, it felt like a space made just for the two of us.
“It's a couple seat.”
“Is it…? I-I didn't know. Should we go somewhere else?!”
“No, it's fine. I was just pointing it out. There don't seem to be any other seats anyway.”
“Right? We're just here to game, so…”
She pulled out the inner chair first and offered it to Senbae. Senbae took off her bag and walked behind the chair.
“Besides… being alone together makes it easier to focus and less noisy. I like it.”
After watching Senbae sit down, I took the seat behind her and said that. She looked at me, nodded, and turned to boot up the computer. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away and turned on the PC.
“What do you want to play?”
“Um…! Let's just duo queue!”
It was the most standard option.
“But do you play ranked?”
“Yeah! I only play ranked. Everything else is boring.”
I used to be a hardcore ranked-only player too, but hearing her say ranked was the only thing worth playing was a bit surprising.
“Ah… Then what's your tier?”
“Emerald!! How about that? Pretty high, right?! What about you?”
Emerald was definitely considered high for an average player. Thinking of that 3-million-sub YouTuber who recently hit Emerald… Yeah, even that guy was considered good at the game.
“I'm not really confident…”
I decided to play it modest for now. After all, this was my first time playing on this body. There hadn't been any setting in the original story about this guy being good at games either.
Uh… Wait a second, what about the ID? That worry popped up, but I roughly followed the original protagonist's memories and entered the usual ID and password. It logged in without any issues.
“Ah… Should we just play normals for today?”
The problem was the massive rank gap that made duo queueing impossible. This guy really had no talent for games.
“Can't be helped. I'll carry you!”
And so the game began. Senbae seemed to mainly play top lane. Going 1v1 against the opponent on the top side of the map. And she was even playing a mechanically demanding sword champion.
“Ah, what's our jungler doing?! He's not even pathing bottom! This is a total dive lane right now!!”
“Ah, whatever, I'm just going in!!”
“Ah, I missed my Q!!”
“Whoa!!! How is he not dead?”
“Haa— Our jungler seriously, if he doesn't look here then what—”
Senbae had turned into a complete maniac. More importantly… I'm your jungler. Saying that right next to me…
“Senior…? I'm sorry. I, I also need to clear my camps…”
“Ah! Sorry. You were our jungler!! I forgot. It's fine, it was a lane I was going to dive anyway.”
“Yeah… I'll focus on top from now on.”
Heh… For some reason, she reminded me of a familiar same-gender friend. The only difference was that she didn't swear. Well… her voice was cute too. The way her small hands skillfully controlled the mouse and keyboard was cute. Even the way she played with her mouth tightly shut, completely focused, was cute. Her actual gameplay really gave off the vibe of a ranked demon, though. If the enemy top laner didn't know it was Nabi Senbae, the chat would've probably been on fire by now.
“Hana Bi? What are you doing here? You even came to a PC bang?”
Just then, a thick male voice intruded into our sweet little space. Not that it was particularly sweet… Anyway.
“Ah… Yeah. Just felt like it.”
Senbae reacted to the guy as if he were someone she found unpleasant. It was quite different from the energy she'd been showing me the whole time. Hmm… It was similar to how she'd been when I first spoke to her. Kind of cold, maybe.
“You never come, and the one day you do, there's no seats left.”
“Haha… Too bad.”
Senbae gave an awkward laugh and brushed it off.
“Have fun.”
With that, the guy left.
“Who was that?”
“A classmate.”
“Didn't seem like you were very close…”
“Yeah… We're still kind of awkward.”
Well, not everyone in the same class has to be close. I was the same way. And considering Senbae's image and personality, it made sense.
*
“But you're way better than I expected? You're definitely not Emerald level.”
“Really? That's good to hear.”
“Hurry up and climb! Let's duo together!”
“Yes. I'll work hard to climb.”
And so our PC bang outing with Senbae came to an end. Honestly, it was a little different from what I'd expected. Yeah, I'd been hoping we'd go bot lane as ADC and support… and have some sweet, harmonious synergy. But that sugary fantasy was nowhere to be found—we'd just played serious, tryhard games. Still… the fact that she suggested doing it again probably meant I'd earned her approval. That was enough, then.
After that, we left the shopping complex together. Before we knew it, the streets were relying on the glow of signs from the surrounding buildings.
“Wow… It's already this late.”
“Time really flies when you're just gaming.”
We walked along the street together, chatting like that.
“Where did my Friday night go…”
Senbae continued with a somewhat regretful expression and tone, lamenting how quickly time had passed. It was understandable.
“I'm pretty satisfied, though. I feel like I spent my Friday night well.”
“Yeah? Even though time flew by so fast… you don't feel disappointed or empty?”
“No, it was that fun. Time spent like that isn't empty at all. Though there is one thing I'm a bit disappointed about.”
“What is it?”
“It was such a fun time, but we already have to say goodbye?”
As we walked side by side, our eyes on the surrounding shops, I said that. From the corner of my eye, I felt Senbae suddenly turn her head to look at me. But that was it. It felt like she was staring at me, but she didn't say anything. If she kept looking like that… it was going to get awkward.
“Well, I should head this way now.”
Feeling a bit embarrassed by her gaze, I tried to wrap things up quickly. Then Senbae, who had been walking steadily, suddenly stopped.
“Um… Did you have fun hanging out with me?”
Senbae asked hesitantly.
“Of course. What about you, Senior…? Was it fun? You'll come with me again next time, right?”
“Yeah, I had fun too. I don't feel empty at all either.”
Senbae said she didn't feel empty at all, as if she'd been conscious of what I'd said earlier.
“Then… I'm glad too.”
I answered with a light laugh. Just as I was about to start walking again—
“W-What if I suddenly want to go to a PC bang over the weekend…?”
Senbae said while fiddling with her phone. Ah. Come to think of it, we still didn't have each other's contact info.
“Would you give me your number? We haven't even exchanged contacts yet.”
I said it first. It felt like she wanted me to. And apparently that was the right move—Senbae shyly held out her phone. I hadn't expected her to suggest exchanging numbers like this. Well, that was very much like her.
. . .
And so, I exchanged contact information with Senbae.