"I'm bored~"
Shidoni said as she played with the ice cubes inside the glass of coffee with a straw. She repeatedly glanced at us while Hiroyuki and I were busy playing with our games on our phone.
"Hey man, I got the new item you were looking for, I'm sending it over."
"Thanks, and here is the weapon you wanted me to forge."
We continued to ignore her as we remained focused on our game.
'Mix' is a cafe right outside of our school. It's famous for being a hangout spot for Niwa Mura High's students due to its location and convenience. The food may be subpar compared to our cafeteria, but it has a comfortable homely feel to it that gave us students a breath of fresh air from the overly studious environment back in school.
Besides, we won't get called out for playing games in a cafe.
At least, the coffee was good though.
"Don't ignore me~ Say something~" Shidoni cried out to us as we continued to play our game. I decided to entertain her a bit since I felt bad for her.
"I told you, you are going to be bored. What were you expecting? Ah... enemy on your left..." I said as I balanced my conversation with both Hiroyuki and Shidoni.
"Really? Got'em. My bad, Shiori. I should have seen this coming." Hiroyuki apologized to Shidoni as he remained focused on our game.
It wasn't my intention to treat her that way. I mean, what was she expecting to happen when you join two otakus who are sucked in a game that was only released a week ago? There was no way I would go out of my way to entertain her when I'm here spending what little time I have left before cram school.
"Talk to me~" Shidoni cried as she shook my phone.
Thanks to her distraction, we lost our battle almost immediately. Hiroyuki let out a small sigh and gave me a sad smile, probably to let me know he felt bad about leaving out Shidoni. With the biggest sigh I could throw out as obvious as I can, I succumb to the whimps of my junior and accepted defeat.
"Fine, fine. What is it do you want to talk about then?" I said as I put away my phone and finished up the already-fully-melted iced coffee.
"Tell me how did you two meet!" Shidoni said as she raised her hand as if she would question a celebrity couple's love affair.
Hiroyuki and I exchanged looks as we tried to think hard about it. We did only meet a few years ago, so our memories shouldn't be…
"Wait… Hold on… How DID we meet…" I said as I tried to recall my memories.
"Not gonna lie, I honestly don't remember."
"Well, I can confirm that we definitely did not meet by approaching each other since we aren't the type to go out of our way to greet new people. So I guess we probably knew each other through a friend?"
"That sounds about right. I guess we then found out we had a similar interest in anime and games and just hit it off… right?"
"That's the most boring answer I have ever gotten in a long time… But I guess that's how most friendships are." Shidoni said as she gave off an emotionless look.
Hiroyuki and I then laughed it off. Eventually, it was Hiroyuki's turn to ask a question, this time lifting the atmosphere a bit more.
"Now you got me curious? How did you two get to know each other? I now know you two aren't dating but where did that name 'Shidoni' come about? As far as I know, only Nobuo ever calls you that. You two seemed to know each other for a long time now."
Shidoni's expression began to change as she raised her head from the desk and turned to face me. She was probably wondering how would we answer that question.
Hiroyuki picked up on the awkward atmosphere. As he was about to divert the question, I tapped him on the shoulder and assured Shidoni to leave it to me as I broke the silence.
"Well, if you must know. It was a long and tragic story. Shidoni got her name from her late grandmother before she gave her the quest to defeat the demon lord. You see my dear friend, Shidoni was her name from her past life and that she was a hero that was destined to save the world."
I looked to Shidoni, signalling her to improvise the story. She quickly picked up the pace and created a very interesting follow-up.
"Those were great times. And it was Nobuo's past life that saved me from one of the demon lord's 'Four Great Knights'. Nobuo came out of nowhere and said that he was sent to be my guide. As we faced the demon lord and while I was in a pinch, Nobuo gave me the best motivational speech I have ever heard in my whole life. It made me strengthen my will and in the end, I was able to defeat the demon lord. It was then I fell in love with him and promised to be by his side in our next life."
As Shidoni finished her story, we exchanged looks for a few seconds and once again burst into laughter.
"Ahahahaha. Never would I thought we would actually use that story. That was wonderful. But was that whole 'fell in love' really necessary?"
"I thought it would be funny to see how Kazama-senpai would respond to it. And it seems like I got to see a very interesting face after all."
We both turned to look at Hiroyuki to see he has the most uninterested face as if he knew what he was getting into. With the blandest response as he could ever give off, he spoke in the most monotonous voice...
"Is that so?"
"Alright, I guess we entertained you quite enough now. Time to get back to our game…" I said as I pulled out my phone once again.
"Now I'm curious, what game is it that you two are playing anyways?"
Shidoni said as she looked at the home screen of Hiroyuki's phone that was placed on the table. Hiroyuki noticed and began to tell Shidoni about the game.
"The game is an RPG battle game based on the anime that just finished airing recently..."
"Oh, you mean the one that aired at 9.30 before 'Highschool BxB'? I watched it! I didn't know they made a game based on it."
"Oh, so you know your stuff, huh? It's pretty good. You get to play as the characters from the anime and also make your own characters based on the setting. Though, I guess the gacha system is still pretty shit."
"Eh… now I'm interested. I guess I'll go give it a shot," Shidoni said as she pulled out her phone too.
"Ah, I guess I should explain a bit about the game then… So…"
With that, the both of them went off to their own little world.
Looking at how these two are hitting it off too, I was glad that I got the chance to have these two meet. I had a feeling that they would hit it off despite their very different background.
Hiroyuki was a popular student. Being part of the esteemed Student Council of Niwa Mura High and excelled in sports, I sometimes wondered if it was okay for me to stand side by side with him. Though, after getting to know him, that thought was tossed out the window very quickly.
As for Shidoni…
I guess that's a story for another time.
"Wait a minute, now I'm feeling left out."
.
.
.
.
Eventually, I paid for their coffee and we left the cafe. It was almost time for my cram school and I would have to say my goodbyes to both Hiroyuki and Shidoni.
"Alright, see you back at home, Hiroyuki. And thanks for helping me guide her to the bus stop. Catch you two later."
"No problem. Remember to get us dinner on the way back."
"See you, Nobuo~"
As we bid each other farewell at the traffic light. I was on my way to cram school.
"Oh yeah… Hiroyuki is having his first student council meeting tomorrow. Guess I should start thinking about tomorrow's dinner too."