Gamers v1c1

There was nothing more interesting than playing games when I was in a good mood.
When I feel down, I couldn’t invest much emotions no matter what masterpiece RPG it might be; But when I’m in a great mood, no matter what kind of unreasonable enemy wiped out my team and waste all the time I spent adventuring, I wouldn’t sigh in depression, and would chuckle instead.
That was why, the me today──
“♪~~♪~~♪”
── Could enjoy myself even though I was sitting in a corner of the cla.s.sroom and playing social network games on my mobile phone.
Eh~~ Social Network Games aren’t bad, how should I put it? I feel that I can empty my mind when I play this… I don’t dislike it!
I liked the design that tempts players to pay cash, even though it usually frustrates me.
As I slowly completed my ‘weekly mission’, I hummed a song in a volume no one else could hear.
Even the usually unbearable ‘after school sit in place forever alone time’ felt trivial today. After all...
I recalled what happened after school yesterday and couldn’t help snickering.
The famous Tendo Karen invited me to join the Gamers Club!
My campus life had always been covered in gloomy clouds, but I was suddenly facing a dramatic event that appeared out of nowhere.
The person I admired approached me, and on top of that, I had a feeling that I would get to know a lot of comrades who loved video games.
It would be hard for me to not get hyped in such a situation.
Actually after what happened yesterday, I went home and played Super Smash Bros with my younger brother. For the entire game, I was so hyped that I was all smiles even when I lose, even my brother who was in the third year of middle school said “You look really disgusting!” But I couldn’t help it even if he said that.
Anyway, there was no entertainment better than playing games in a great mood!
I had to keep myself from snickering at school, but a background character like me won’t be noticed── I thought as I continued playing with my phone in a great mood.
Speaking of which, Gamers Club huh? I never heard that Otobuki had such a club.
Even a self-proclaimed gaming enthusiast like me didn’t know.
But that was only natural, Tendo-san said that the current Gamers Club was just started by her. For some reason, the student populace totally didn’t know about this club.
I played around with the operating system of my phone as I slowly think back about what happened after school yesterday… After s.h.i.+fting location from the game store to a bench in a nearby park, I listened to what Tendo-san had to say.
“And for the Gamers club, even though I founded the club, I didn’t advertise to recruit members at all.”
Tendo-san said as she took out a small bottle of mineral water from her bag to drink.
Even though I was still very nervous about talking to her alone, I still did my best to pretend to be calm to avoid making a fool of myself.
“Thank you for enlightening me, But in that case-”
“Ah, your honourifics.”
“?”
Tendo-san looked at me troublingly with a frown.
“We are in the same grade, you can just talk to me like an equal, Amano-kun. Or rather, I am already speaking in such a casual tone, it would be awkward if you respond with honorifics.”
“Ah, my apologies…”
I apologized on reflex, and then noticed that I almost used honorifics again. Tendo-san smiled wryly.
“I don’t know why, even my cla.s.smates use honorifics with me.”
“I-I see.”
“Hmm… That other time, even the teacher spoke to me with honorifics…”
“Haha…”
“In the end, even King Bowser used honorifics on me.”
“Oh… Eh, no no no, that’s too ridiculous!”
“It’s true. When I went into the deepest part of Bowser Castle, he said: ‘I apologize for the terrible road conditions.’ Is it a bug?”
“There should be a limit on how bad a bug affects the game! And under what situation did this bug occur!?”
“Eh… When I feel very sleepy.”
“It’s a dream! There is no doubt that it was a dream!”
“Hmm? Then when Rathian told me apologetically: ‘I am very sorry, I don’t have any more scales…’ That was a dream too?”
“It’s probably a dream! It would be terrible if it is not a dream!”
“... Should I ask Capcom about this?”
“Why do you insist on denying that was a dream! Don’t do that! Of course, the one who was mistaken is Tendo-sa──
“... Fufu!”
When Tendo-san suddenly giggled, I finally realized that she drew out my true colours, and felt really embarra.s.sed.
When I became timid again,Tendo-san looked at me as if it was a pity. She seemed embarra.s.sed about chatting further, so she returned to the topic with a gentle smile.
“Sorry, I veered from the topic accidentally. Ehh, where were we…”
Tendo-san looked to the sky with a finger on her lips… She probably became the school idol because she could act this way so naturally.
“Right, we were talking about not advertising for the Gamers Club after founding it, right?”
“Ah, yes, that’s right. Eh… So why…?”
After I had calmed down a little, pure curiosity stemmed from my heart. Tendo-san capped her bottle as she looked at the kids playing in the sandpit.
“Aside from the fact that the Gamers Club doesn’t sound like a proper group, it’s awkward for me to say this myself… Well, because I am in the club, if words are to spread…”
“...? …… Ah... Ah~~ I see…”
Even though she tailed off the ending of her explanation with a wry smile, I could feel the subtle reason behind that.
Simply put, Tendo-san was probably worried there would be half hearted people who would join in order to slack off or to woo her. After all, unlike sports club, the entry bar for the Gamers club sounded really low.
Tendo-san continued:
“I really love video games, although I don’t really mention that to my friends. And the reason I am studying in Otobuki High is because I heard we have a famous Gamers Club here.”
“Huh?”
That was the first time I heard that. Tendo-san laughed weakly.
“I heard that the club disbanded right before we entered the school. Most of the members then seemed to have graduated…”
“Okay…”
That was really… how should I put this? But Tendo-san didn’t seem disheartened at all.
“And so, in order to revive the Gamers Club, I have been working behind the scenes for the past year. Finally, I became the Club president this spring…”
“Oh, the Gamers Club has revived? Congratulations.”
I offered my sincere compliments. Tendo-san said shyly: “It isn’t much.”
After a short applause, I thought of a question and asked:
“Eh, but, what exactly does the Gamers Club do…”
“Ah, I know what you are meaning to ask. It is basically what you’d expect at face value, a club to play video games.”
“... Are there any difference between it standing out or not? Actually, how can playing video games be a club activity…”
Tendo-san smiled at my question.
“Ahaha, yes, that’s what people would normally think. However, it really is different from just playing video games. Or rather, we have to play games seriously for it to be a club activity.”
“?”
“Eh… Sorry, it’s hard for you to imagine that right? But that’s how it is.”
Tendo-san stood at this moment, and invited me with a warm smile, with her back to the setting sun:
“Well, Amano-kun! Would you like to visit the Gamers Club room!?”
For an instant, I almost lost myself because of how cute she was, but I still asked her back hurriedly:
“W-Why would you invite someone like me…”
“Why would you say that…?”
Compared to me who couldn’t understand and was fl.u.s.tered──
Tendo-san said in a kind tone as if she was gently guiding a child throwing a tantrum:
“Because you like video games, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes, I do like them…”
I tilted my head as I pondered, and Tendo-san began explaining in detail.
“Our Gamers Club won’t advertise publicly, and in place, the members have to recruit those who loves gaming. To be honest, the efficiency is bad, and we would most likely miss out on people who truly like games. However, it won’t be worth it if the Club fails because weird people joined in. I think this is a good way of laying a solid foundation.”
“Oh… I see…”
Simply put, this was like a shop that prioritized to serve the customers? The efficiency might be sacrificed, but it gave more importance to other matters.
Hmm? But this means… I really...
“Ah, it’s already so late! My curfew…!”
She had probably set a vibrating alarm on her phone, Tendo-san looked fl.u.s.tered when she took it out from her pocket.
At this day and age, a girl like her still had curfews huh── While I was feeling impressed, she waved at me and said: “Excuse me!” then picked up her bag from the bench swiftly.
“That’s it for today! Tomorrow! Make some time for me after school tomorrow! I will tell you the details… I will find you after cla.s.s is over! Bye, Amano-kun!”
“Huh? Ah, alright, eh, b-bye…”
I stood up from the chair hurriedly, and despite a slight hesitation in my heart, I still waved my hand shyly… Even though Tendo-san wasn’t looking at me, I continued waving my hand… I only slumped back onto the bench when I could no longer see her figure anymore.
And after I s.p.a.ced out for a while… I looked up to the sky and muttered:
“So that means… I… was chosen by her?”
It had nothing to do with romance though. But even so… What was just a delusion suddenly felt very real, there was no doubt about that.
“Gamers Club… Gamers Club huh… Fu, fufu…”
It was the first time in my life──
That I looked forward to going to Otobuki High the next day.

As I absentmindedly cleared my Social Network game missions, I kept replaying back the event from yesterday in my mind.
That’s right, Gamers Club. Today… Tendo-san would be inviting me into the Club…
What an exciting day. To think I would see such a day in my high school life.
But… There’s something that I felt uneasy about…
Could it be… That was just a dream…?
I didn’t feel that way yesterday, but my confidence dwindled after a single night. Being the type whose dreams felt really realistic also helped to grow my unease.
...N-No way, that was definitely not a dream. Yes, it was real, no doubt about it… I-I just need to play my game and wait for school to end, yup!
I focused on the screen of my phone, forcefully wiping away the unease in my heart.
For me, games were a safe haven, and also my mental stabilizing injection. I liked to empty my mind, play task oriented games, and immerse myself in the world of RPG as well. Because no matter what I was playing, I could forget everything about reality, and cleanse my soul completely.
Right now, I was playing one of the many games on the market that was a clone of Puzzle & Dragons.
The players had to use the energy that recover over time to adventure, and battle by playing mini games. They could also use the rewards from battles or the bonus from logging in daily to play gacha to collect comrades, power-up and synthesize new items.
I usually couldn’t play pay-to-win Social Network Games for long, but this one had a lot of action elements in its battle, which I liked a lot. And so, with a miniscule spending in the range of hundreds of yen, I had been fiddling with this game for half a year.
I completed a mission today as usual, and found a ‘help request notification when I returned to the home screen.
You could request for reinforcement from other players registered as your ‘friend’ if you couldn’t defeat an enemy that appeared during a limited time event, a system to call for aid by sharing the rewards.
Ah, even though the term ‘friend’ was used, I don’t know most of the players, and was only helping out in the game. Just strangers that didn’t communicate, and only helped each other for the reward, with no emotional investment.
However, the person requesting aid this time was different.
Ah, it’s ‘MONO’. I will help him then.
Basically, the rewards for the players who help wasn’t too good for this game. It wasn’t completely a waste of time, but there were other missions that grant rewards more efficiently.
However, ‘MONO’ was a ‘friend’ I made when I first played this game. Even though we didn’t message each other at all, I somehow feel a strong sense of camaraderie for him. Our game progress was almost the same and we go online at similar timings, which was probably the reason why we often help each other.
In short, even though this was a meager friends.h.i.+p I had in the Social Network Game, I still want to accept MONO’s help request. Especially for this event which had a strict time limit: ‘After receiving the help request notification, you have to accept within 3 minutes.’
I immediately reached out to press the ‘accept help request’ b.u.t.ton──
“Ah, found you, Amano-kun!”
── It happened really fast, Tendo-san entered the cla.s.sroom after speaking loudly.
The appearance of the unexpected person caused an uproar in F cla.s.s. But Tendo-san seemed used to it, and wasn’t concerned as she walked towards me openly.
I froze on the spot as I stared at her with my mobile phone in hand fl.u.s.teredly,
… As she got closer to me, the gazes from my cla.s.smates slowly fell onto me… I could feel my heart beating fast.
Ugh… This really is...
Even though this was a scene I looked forward to in a romantic comedy. I couldn’t calm down with so many eyes on me, let alone feeling a sense of superiority about this.
To be honest, instead of being envious, the gaze of my cla.s.smates appeared confused.
Maybe Tendo-san didn’t understand the awkward atmosphere hanging over us, after coming to my table in quick steps… She suddenly leaned in and peeked at my phone.
“Hmm? Amano-kun, are you busy with something?”
“Ah, just killing time…”
“Oh, a social network game. How unexpected, I didn’t think you will play such boring things.”
“Huh?... Ah…… T-That’s right, just a little.”
My face started heating up for no reason, and I hurriedly flip my phone over… Why was my body turning hot too? Was it because Tendo-san was beside me, and I was being watched by everyone? Or perhaps…
“Let’s not talk about that.”
Tendo-san moved the phone I put on the table away, placed her hand there, then spoke to me intimidatingly:
“About the promise today, how about meeting in the library after school? Amano-kun, you can come over immediately after your cleaning duty right?”
“Ah, a-alright. It should be… fine.”
The words were stuck in my mouth and came out haphazardly. It’s probably because I’m being watched by others, so my body was stiffer than yesterday. I had to try expressing myself clearer, so I nodded my head several times like a nodding doll to emphasize what I said.
And so, Tendo-san said with a smile: “It’s settled then!”
It was rare seeing her smile so happily, and she was doing so just for me. This fact caused a disturbance in the cla.s.s.
I couldn’t find the words to answer her as my mouth opened and close. The G.o.ds probably couldn’t bear seeing me like this, and rang the bell for the second period of cla.s.s.
“Ah, I need to go then. See you after school, Amano-kun!”
Tendo-san left quickly after saying that. The only thing accompanying me was the words ‘Ah, right, bye…’ I uttered in relief, and…
Ugh...
The rude stares from my cla.s.smates. Also, as the bell for cla.s.s just rang, even the cla.s.smates that would normally riot didn’t talk to me, and the air felt dangerous. That might be so, but I couldn’t take the initiative and talk about the Gamers Club…
I lowered my head as I reached for the textbook under my desk, and slowly prepare for the next lesson.
── At this moment…
… Ah, in the end… I didn’t accept the help request from MONO...
I picked up my phone and looked at the screen, and the message ‘help request fail’.
In reality, it was common when other players couldn’t respond to help requests because of various factors. Conversely, there were times when I couldn’t get any reinforcement too, and wouldn’t hold a grudge against others because of that.
But, why…?
Compared to normal times, the guilt I felt today… Was heavier for some reason.