Chapter 9 – Nakamura Wataru: Not Coming Home in the Morning (2)
"It's still empty. The house is too big for one person."
Indeed, the room lacked a sense of life.
It seemed she had moved in with almost nothing but the clothes on her back.
Except for the large box sitting in the living room.
"So this is the soundproof room."
Inside the six-tatami-sized box were a microphone, a PC, and other equipment.
"The soundproofing in this apartment seems solid, but you can still hear if someone screams."
"Must've been expensive, right?"
"Yeah. It cost about a million yen. I also bought a PC, so it was quite a splurge."
"That's amazing. You bought it with the money you earned yourself?"
"It's all thanks to my listeners. I'm grateful, but it feels strange."
Aoi smiled shyly, somewhat embarrassed.
"The practice PC is over there."
In the fifteen-tatami-sized living room, there was only the sofa Aoi pointed to, the table in front of it, and the soundproof room.
It didn't seem like the room of a high school girl living alone.
In front of the sofa, two monitors were set up, each connected to a different PC.
Including the soundproof room, weren't there three PCs in this room?
And they all seemed to be gaming PCs.
"Wouldn't one in the soundproof room and another one be enough..."
"But then we couldn't play side by side, right?"
"There's also voice chat..."
"No, that won't do."
"Eh?"
"It's not allowed."
"Okay."
I thought it was an extravagant way to spend money, but well...
"One is a backup for streaming, and the other is for personal use, so this is fine."
"When you put it that way, it does seem necessary."
Just one missed stream could move an amount of money I can't even imagine, so a backup is necessary.
"Right? Let's eat breakfast while we do the tutorial. You take two sugars in your coffee, right?"
Aoi brought sandwiches and coffee.
The same was packed in my bag, probably for lunch.
"Thanks."
I bit into the somewhat misshapen sandwich.
"Delicious."
The mustard was a bit too strong, making my tongue tingle, but it was edible.
"I'm glad."
Aoi grinned and took a big bite of her sandwich.
"Munch munch... Spicy!?"
She blinked rapidly but forced herself to swallow.
She hadn't tasted this one before.
Aoi, still chewing, tried to grab the controller.
"Wait, wait. You'll get the controller dirty."
I took out a wet wipe from my bag and cleaned her fingers.
"Gulp. Thanks."
"So you play with a controller, not a mouse and keyboard."
I hear many PC FPS gamers prefer mouse and keyboard.
"The streaming event is next weekend, so I thought I'd stick with the controller I'm used to."
"Indeed."
For now, Aoi and I sat side by side on the sofa, each playing through the tutorial.
Like many modern games, it carefully taught us the basic controls.
As a complete FPS novice, do I even have a role here?
"I wonder why Aoi was called, being a complete novice."
People usually think that those who play regularly are chosen for this kind of thing.
"The organizers said it's not a tournament for skilled players. They want to appeal to beginners and make it enjoyable for them too."
I see, so it's a campaign to acquire new users. After finishing the tutorial that day, we tried a light one-on-one match.
"I can't hit anything at all!"
"With a pad, the aim is somewhat corrected for you, so it might be good to just match the height and swing the gun sideways."
"Eh, aim...? The character from the shooting game we played the other day?"
"That's 'Reimu.' Aim means something like targeting."
"Ah, I see. It does sort of aim automatically."
"While doing that, bam!"
"Their head went boom!? That's mean!"
"That was a headshot."
"If anything, I'd rather have their heart shot through!"
"...What are you saying?"
"Isn't that response a bit cold!?"
Please don't lump me in with the listeners who can make funny comments.
"Also, I keep getting mixed up with this sub-weapon and the button controls. The icons look similar too."
This game switches between main and sub-weapons with a button.
"I can understand why that would be confusing."
"Right? I can't tell which weapon I'm holding."
"How about holding dynamite as a sub? It looks completely different from a gun, so you won't mix them up."
It seems to be a joke weapon that no expert uses, but if you can't handle two weapons anyway, it might be just right to seal one away.
"Indeed! It's red, so even if I accidentally switch weapons, I won't get confused!"
"When you have the leeway to use a sub-weapon, you can equip a proper weapon."
"Yeah!"
Aoi seemed happy, but she ended up blowing herself up with dynamite several times after that.
While having fun playing around, it suddenly became time to go to school.
"It feels like we just played the whole time."
"Not at all. It was helpful."
"Really? Well, that's good then."
"But we're going to be late! I'll lock up, so you go ahead."
I was pushed out the entrance by Aoi.
"Ah... sorry."
I almost bumped into a resident in front of the door and apologized reflexively.
"Wataru? Why are you coming out of there?"
It was Haruka, in her school uniform.
After opening her eyes wide, Haruka frowned.
"Ah, Haruka..."
I wasn't doing anything wrong, but I stumbled over my words.
"Wait, Wataru, what are you doing... ah..."
Haruka's eyes met Aoi's, who had followed me out.
"W-When did you two get into that kind of relationship...? Aoi's move was about that!?"
Haruka stiffened her face and stepped back.
"What are you talking about..."
Could she have misunderstood it as a walk of shame?
"Haruka, this isn't—"
"Be happy!"
Haruka turned her back on us and ran off at full speed.
She was fast!
For the entire day, Haruka avoided me.
"Hey, Haruka."
I tried to talk to her during the break...
"Sorry, I have something to do."
She immediately went outside the classroom.
I tried every break, but in the end, I couldn't talk to her until Haruka left early for a recording.
She had even blocked me on the messaging app.
Was that really necessary?
"So after all, you were on this side too. Good for you."
Seeing me like that, Satō patted me on the shoulder.
Which side is he talking about?
It's not good at all, is it?