Chapter 8: All Sorts of Worlds

In the dim glow of my room, tonight was supposed to be a haven for our usual gaming session—just me, my little sister, and an old friend, bantering through headsets. A carefree escape… Or so I’d thought.

My mind drifted, hazy and unmoored, like I’d wandered off on some solitary journey far from here.

“Nii-ni… I mean, Crow! Enemies up ahead!” Akane’s voice crackled through the headset, sharp with urgency. “There’s two of them, so I’m charging in! Cover me—”

Her words reached me, but they felt distant, like an echo from another room. My hands moved on autopilot, fumbling with the controller. Cover her? Right, I should do that. But my focus was slipping, lost in a fog.

By the way, “Crow” is my in-game name, a relic of my cringeworthy chuunibyou phase, dripping with meanings I’d rather bury. It stuck with the group, though, and now there’s no shaking it, no matter how much I’d like to.

My thoughts snagged on something else—Toudou. Her image flickered in my mind, vivid and unbidden. My brain stalled. What was I doing again?

“—Crow? What’s with you? Why’re you picking up and dropping that throwing item like a glitch?” My old friend S’s voice cut through, teasing but edged with annoyance.

“Your character’s starting to look like some shady NPC. Yo, Crow, I’m gonna smack you! …No reaction, huh?” Akane suddenly said.

The voice of my old friend “S” followed.

“Yuuhi-chan, just let him be. Crow’s been off for a while now. I can tell—he used to be my teammate, you know. Something’s definitely up with him. Probably personal stuff.”

He was part of the amateur team I used to run with. A sharp-tongued attacker with a knack for reading the battlefield—and people. He’s got a rough way of talking, but he’s always had a knack for looking out for others. One of the few from that disbanded team I still game with.

More of a gaming buddy than a close friend, really. Kind of like… Toudou Mashiro. Her name hit me again, and suddenly my head was flooded with images—her shimmering hair catching the light, her pink lips curving into a faint smile, the soft glow of her skin. My thoughts screeched to a halt, tangled in the memory of her presence.

“Hmm… He’s always kinda weird, though. Oh well.”

“Yeah, sure. So, what’s the deal? Is Crow finally cracking under some big worry? Turning into a shut-in or something?”

“A shut-in? No way,” Akane scoffed. “He was all cheerful heading to school today. Nah, this has gotta be a girl’s shadow lurking around. I just hope it’s not some honey trap situation.”

“Pfft, that’s rich! I missed my shot! No way Crow’s got any girl friends. Ever since that time he got catfished by some dude posing as a girl in that online game, he’s been super skittish about the opposite sex, right? Poor guy…”

“Really? I think it’s the real deal this time.”

“Seriously? A girl’s shadow around him? Gotta be a scam, no question.”

“Well, with Yuuhi-chan around, no shady bugs are getting near Onii-chan.”

“That’s reassuring. Keep me posted on the investigation results, yeah?”

“Aye, aye!” Akane chirped. “Leave it to the Yuuhi Detective Agency—oh, look, Nii-ni’s character finally started moving on its own.”

“That’s a gamer’s instincts for you, Even with his head all messed up, he can’t stand losing. Right, Crow?”

They were talking about me like I wasn’t even here, tossing around theories without a care. But I couldn’t muster a retort. My lips felt sealed, my fingertips icy against the controller. I was supposed to be in the game, locked in with them, but my mind was somewhere else entirely, overrun by images that wouldn’t quit.

What happened after school—it kept replaying in my head. In the end, Toudou had stirred awake after just a few minutes…

＊

After school.

“Fwah…?”

Toudou Mashiro jolted upright, her hand flying to her mouth as she kneaded her cheeks, likely checking for any lingering marks from her nap. Her gaze darted left and right, unfocused at first, until it settled on me sitting in the chair. For a moment, she froze, as if unsure whether she was still caught in a dream. A soft yawn escaped her, barely muffled by her hand.

The distant cheers of the baseball club echoed a few times, and her large eyes—sharp and clear like a camera lens—finally locked onto me with clarity.

“…Huh? …Huh!? This isn’t a dream!?”

Her sudden outburst caught me off guard, and I couldn’t help but fire back, “It’s real life after school, you know.”

“No way! Why didn’t you wake me up…!?” Toudou’s voice wavered, less with blame toward me and more with frustration at herself. Her hands shot to her hair, frantically smoothing it down as she pulled out an oversized mirror. Her fingers worked with startling speed, checking her reflection from every angle with a precision that felt almost mechanical. Watching her, I couldn’t help but think, If she’s that quick with her hands, she’d probably pick up gaming in no time…

Toudou’s lips pursed into a dissatisfied pout. “Is staring at people’s sleeping faces your hobby or something?”

The accusation made me want to protest, but I bit back my words. I didn’t exactly have a solid defense. “I don’t have a hobby like that, and I wasn’t staring,” I muttered.

I’d only glanced. A little.

“You really weren’t looking…?” Her tone was skeptical, eyes narrowing.

“Well, I did look a bit, I guess…”

“Then you should’ve woken me up!” Her cheeks puffed out, threatening to burst if I didn’t defuse this fast.

“Don’t ask for the impossible. There’s no way I could’ve done that, right?”

Toudou’s suspicious gaze didn’t waver. “I don’t think waking someone up is that impossible…”

“You were sleeping so soundly, I felt bad about it.”

“We had plans to meet, so it’s my fault anyway. You didn’t have to worry…”

“Touching you to wake you up would’ve gotten me labeled a groper, wouldn’t it?” I shot back. No way was I risking that. What if someone saw?

“Absolutely no way,” I muttered, my mind spiraling into worst-case scenarios. “What if someone saw and started spreading rumors? ‘Some Kuroki guy was assaulting the sleeping Toudou Mashiro’—that’d be the end of my life right there.”

As I stewed in my own panic, Toudou fixed me with a half-lidded stare, unimpressed. “Even without touching me, you could’ve shaken the desk or raised your voice or something.”

“…Y-Yeah, true,” I conceded, feeling thoroughly outmaneuvered.

“Hmm?”

Overwhelmed by Toudou’s doubtful gaze, I bowed my head slightly.

“I’m sorry…”

A brief silence hung between us. Toudou crossed her arms, her expression stern—until a puff of air escaped her lips, betraying a stifled laugh. “Nope, I can’t hold it in. I’m starting to get a read on you, Kuroki-kun.”

“H-Huh?” Was she messing with me?

Toudou grinned, already rummaging through her bag. “When you figure out something nice about someone, it feels like you’ve gotten a little closer, you know? That makes me kinda happy.”

So she wasn’t teasing me after all. But… what was this “nice thing” she saw in me? I tilted my head, puzzled, as she barreled on with her words.

“Come on, Kuroki-kun! I was napping, so we’re short on time, right? Let’s hurry up and game—you promised!”

She struck a pose straight out of an ad, flashing her smartphone screen with the game already loaded. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and I found myself nodding despite the pressure.

“…Alright, got it. Let’s do it. I’ll game with Toudou.”

“Let’s do it, let’s do it, game with Mashiro-chan!” she echoed, mimicking my stiff tone with a playful lilt. But barely a minute later, her confidence faltered, and she spoke in a cooler tone, a hint of nervous sweat in her voice. “Huh… I don’t actually know how to form a party. I’ve only ever played solo…”

And so, after Toudou and I stumbled through the awkward rite of passage known to all solo gamers, we threw ourselves into gaming until the sun dipped below the horizon.

＊

In the dim glow of my room, I sat gaming with Akane and S, but my mind kept drifting back to what happened after school.

No matter what Toudou did, her reactions hit me like a spark—shouting “I did it!” when she won, groaning “I lost!” in defeat, cheering “Beat them!” or gasping “Whoa! You’re good!” with wide-eyed awe.

Each one landed like a shot of validation, melting my brain with the thrill of being noticed, acknowledged, even praised by someone who felt like a higher being. My ordinary actions drawing those extraordinary responses from Toudou—it was intoxicating, and the hours slipped away in a blur.

“Hey, Crow, the match is over~ If we’re rematching, start it up~”

“Nii-ni~ You were kinda like an NPC halfway through, but you still snagged the champion. Still going? Or you just gonna keep daydreaming?”

Their words pushed my memories out like tokoroten jelly, vivid and slippery. Toudou Mashiro. Waking up with puffed cheeks, flaring with irritation, then flipping to a bright smile as we gamed on our smartphones. Her frustration when she lost, asking for tips; her glee when she won, chasing high-fives. It was just a few hours together, but I was drained—yet somehow, time had flown by in an instant.

How did it even come to this? I was supposed to track down Toudou to cut ties, wasn’t I? But before I knew it, she’d dubbed me her gaming buddy, and we were hanging out after school. Isn’t that the kind of thing that stops after elementary school? Maybe she’s just using me for convenience—no, wait. Using me for what? She kept laughing, saying, “Gaming with buddies is fun!” Her joy seemed genuine, not a trace of deceit in her smile.

But then, a sour thought crept in. What if it’s not gaming with me that’s fun, but just the game itself?

I hesitated, then spoke into the mic. “…Hey, Yuuhi, S. Can I ask you something?”

“He suddenly started talking,” Akane remarked, her tone dry.

“Huh? What’s up all of a sudden?” S asked.

“You guys… do you actually think it’s fun gaming with me…?”

“Nii-ni’s broken.”

“Crow… you…”

I didn’t get an answer.

Toudou Mashiro—she’s impossible. More like a final boss than a buddy. The only things I’ve got on her are height and gaming skills. Yeah, at least in games, I can beat her. I’ll take confidence in that.

Snapping back to reality, I blinked. “Huh? When did the match end?”

“““…Sigh~”“”

A pair of deep, exasperated sighs echoed through the voice chat in perfect unison.

“Um, sorry… I guess…?”

My life’s being thrown into chaos by Toudou Mashiro.