Chapter Sixty-Three: Things Got Out of Hand!
"Come in." Qiong’s voice came from inside the room.
Aoki Tsukasa pushed open the door. Qiong’s room was unusually clean and tidy, as if she had taken advantage of the morning to straighten it up. At this moment, Qiong was wearing headphones, sitting at her computer desk, her gaze a little flustered as she looked at Tsukasa.
On the computer screen, a third-person shooter game revealed only swaying grass in the wind. The female character Qiong controlled, dressed in camouflage, was lying prone in the undergrowth, apparently lying in ambush.
Tsukasa hesitated as he walked to her side. He opened his mouth, searching for words, but for a moment dared not speak.
Qiong, noticing Tsukasa’s odd expression, tilted her small head and frowned slightly. “What is it, Tsukasa?”
Tsukasa took a deep breath. “Um… did you see the news today?”
Qiong blinked, as if something had come to mind. A shy smile flickered across her face, and she replied lightly, “Ah… you mean the incident at the mall?”
“You already know?” Tsukasa’s eyes widened in surprise. He’d thought that if Qiong knew, even if she wasn’t upset, she would at least talk to him about it.
Qiong nodded unconcernedly. “I saw it on my phone this morning.”
“You… you didn’t read the comments, did you?” Tsukasa looked at her with concern.
Qiong paused, then smiled. “It’s all right… Whatever they say, I don’t care.”
Tsukasa had spent so much time thinking of how to comfort her, yet hadn’t expected Qiong to take it so lightly. He felt awkward, and yet relieved. Perhaps Qiong really was a strong child—those psychological issues Aunt Haruno had spoken of might have long since healed. Maybe she simply didn’t fit in, didn’t like dealing with people…
He reached out, gently ruffled the back of Qiong’s head, and breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I was really afraid… that if you saw those comments, you’d be hurt.”
Qiong’s smile was shy and radiant, her eyes meeting Tsukasa’s without the slightest hesitation. “You said… you’d always protect me, didn’t you?”
“Yes!” Tsukasa nodded.
“Then I have nothing to fear.” Qiong’s smile made Tsukasa’s heart ache, yet also filled him with warmth. The pain was because he thought of how fate had been so unkind to such a lovely girl; the warmth was because she trusted him so completely.
He sighed softly, smiling as he said, “That’s right. No matter what happens, I’ll be with you. Now that I know you’re all right, I feel better.”
Qiong answered softly, turning back to the computer screen, pretending to focus on her game, though a faint flush crept up her cheeks. Just to say those words had taken all her effort to remain calm.
It was strange—with Tsukasa, Qiong always felt so at ease, as if she could say anything in her heart, without any burden at all. The psychological defenses she always kept so firmly in place seemed useless against him.
Before, she could still keep her face stiff and suppress whatever she wanted to say, but ever since Tsukasa came home late after that fight, she found it harder and harder to hide her feelings. The more she talked to him, the more she felt compelled to speak her mind. It was as if Tsukasa had some magic about him.
She stared at the game screen, but her thoughts were in turmoil. Suddenly, a barrage of gunfire crackled through her headphones. Flustered, she tried to maneuver her character to dodge, but it was too late. The game’s perspective abruptly pulled back and turned gray, her in-game persona collapsing as a corpse on the ground.
Irritated, Qiong pulled off her headphones. She looked at Tsukasa, who seemed about to leave, hesitated, then suddenly asked, “Tsukasa… do you like playing games?”
Tsukasa paused in his tracks, scratching his still-bald head, and replied a little half-heartedly, “Of course! I’m really good at games. If I weren’t saving up money for the two of us, I’d have bought a computer long ago.”
Qiong looked like she really loved games. If I said I’d only ever played tile-matching games, she’d probably look down on me. But I’m not exactly lying—I really do want to buy a computer and try some games… Tsukasa thought to himself.
Sure enough, Qiong’s eyes lit up. It was as if finding out Tsukasa loved gaming too meant she’d found a companion. Her tone grew unusually excited. “Really? Then do you know how to play ‘The Last Survivor’?”
The Last Survivor? What kind of game is that?
Tsukasa looked at her screen. It looked a little familiar, but he’d barely played any games in his previous life. All he knew came from friends’ bragging or the occasional glance at a gameplay video, so he couldn’t recognize the game at all. Still, he forced himself to sound confident. “I haven’t played this one, but I used to be really good at other shooting games.”
After all, I cleared ‘Contra’ with just ten lives! Tsukasa remembered how, as a child, he’d used the up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A code for thirty lives to finish Contra, and a tiny bit of confidence bubbled up inside him.
Qiong didn’t doubt him for a moment. Perhaps in her eyes, Tsukasa was simply capable of anything. She just smiled excitedly. “Really?”
Without warning, Qiong sprang up from her chair and pulled out a super cool-looking laptop from under her bed, holding it up for Tsukasa to see with obvious pride. “This laptop was a prize for winning a championship in another game. I’ve never had the heart to sell it…”
“And this!” Like a child showing off her toys, she produced a set of mechanical-looking keyboard and mouse from under the bed. “These too—I won them in a gaming competition.”
“And these headphones!” She presented a beautiful red-and-black headset that obviously completed the set.
“Tsukasa… let’s play together?” Qiong’s cheeks were flushed, her face full of hope.
Tsukasa swallowed hard, his smile stiff. “H-ha… sure… let’s… play together…”
“Great!” Qiong excitedly shoved the keyboard, mouse, headphones, and laptop into Tsukasa’s arms. He stood there, holding everything blankly.
Then, Tsukasa watched as Qiong fetched the matching laptop charger and handed it to him as well.
“Tsukasa, I’ll give you the WiFi password—download the game, and we’ll play together!” Qiong’s expression was unusually bright, as if she couldn’t wait.
Clutching the laptop in confusion, Tsukasa returned to his room, plugged it in, hooked up all the equipment under Qiong’s guidance, and updated a heap of unfamiliar software. Only when Qiong started downloading the game for him and left for her own room did Tsukasa come to his senses, clutching his head in regret.
Damn it, I’ve played myself into a corner!