Hakuta had gotten used to the idea of living with Shiuka now. So the thought of it no longer upset him. However, that didn't keep the boy from being upset over other matters. As was the case today at school, for there was something most people don't normally look forward to.
Sports day.
It was the talk of the class with it coming up next week. Most students were concerned about doing well. Not for reasons such as making sure they had good health. More so in not wanting to look bad in front of their friends and/or potential crushes.
Hakuta was someone who absolutely despised sports day. Considering his personality, it wasn't a surprise. They lived a very sedentary lifestyle, so obviously he wasn't the glowing standard of fitness.
"I wonder how you're going to survive sports day." Said Yuusen as the boys sat around his desk during lunch. "Last year I think you nearly fainted."
"I actually did, for your information." Unlike him, Hakuta's friends were more gifted in the athletics department. Itsuku was already making a name for himself during baseball practice. So it was expected he would be fine during this day. Meanwhile, Yuusen actually did care for his health and fitness unlike his more gamer friend. This was a boy who did maintain exercise for each and every day, even if not to the level of Itsuku.
"I doubt it'll be any better for you this year." Given the lack of apparent change in his regiment, the boys were giving him a hard time in failing to at least have some attempt in being fit. "Maybe you should just join Itsuku on the baseball field this week."
"I'll be fine." The idea of being out in the hot sun and sweating was not something he wanted to do. Even if sports day was going to be a disaster for him, at least it was only for one day. It was unlikely he'd perish just because he didn't work out.
While they were talking, a girl approached them. It wasn't just any girl, but more accurately, their class representative, Ino Saito. Judging from the look on her face, she didn't appear happy to see them. Then again, that was how she always looked.
"Are you all looking forward to sport day next week?" She asked them. They all answered positively, which meant Hakuta lacked much enthusiasm in his voice compared to the others.
"It's fortunate that we've got Kageyama in our class." She said, speaking highly of Itsuku. Pretty much everyone expected him to be the one to carry the class as they competed against other classrooms in multiple challenges. The only sad thing about relying on him was that he could only be in three games.
"Don't worry, I'm sure we can all carry his slack." Hakuta jokingly said about his friend. Honestly, he was grateful they were in the same classroom if only because he'd hate to have to compete against this boy. Plus, with him on their side, they had a real shot at winning the day.
"And I hope you do your best too." She directed her attention towards Hakuta. "I heard about your unfortunate incident last year. So I hope it doesn't happen again." Her tone was more like one of concern, rather than attempting him to push himself for the sake of winning.
"I'm sure it won't." His plan on avoiding disaster was to not try as hard this year.
"Still, if you feel faint, don't be afraid to let me know that day." With that, she left them be for the rest of lunch. "Have a good rest of your day."
"Ooh, you've even got the class rep interested in you." Yuusen teased him. It was common practice for them to do so whenever a girl expressed any concern for him, which was usually rare.
"You two are a little girl crazy." Hakuta couldn't want until they got girlfriends. But then again, maybe that would be a problem because then they'd push him to find one as well.
"But, you're always nicer to Saito whenever we talk." Said Itsuku.
"Well, she is 95% my type." Admittedly, the boys did have more a point when it came to her and him for romance.
"Only 95%?" Asked Yuusen.
"She loses five points because I don't think she plays video games."
"Then she's really only 5% your type…"
The day went by as normal for Hakuta. He went through school and prepared himself to head on home alone once more. This part had also become normal to him. The route he took to Shiuka's home was atypical, but mainly just due to it starting off as if he was going back to his original home. That way, his friends wouldn't get suspicious and ask him about the change in direction.
When he got home, she wasn't there. Not weird, since normally that girl would be hanging out with her friends after school. Just a normal thing gyarus did way too often when they'd probably be best trying to study once in a while. This wasn't a problem for him though, as it would mean some uninterrupted time being able to play on his Toystation.
Apparently it killed him too much to also bother with study once in a while.
Either way, this was how he spent the next half hour until she arrived back home. This was unexpected, since she'd normally come back around dinner time. And even then, sometimes she'd come back closer to bed time.
"Look what I got." She spoke proudly as she leap up and over the back of the couch to sit besides him. In her hands were a plastic bag. From it, she produced two items. The first one was obvious to anyone, it was a game case. The other made less sense to him, as it was a camera add-on for the Toystation known as the visiontoy.
"You bought a game?" This was something she had never done before. At this point, he was still trying to rebuild his collection, but the lack of money was a challenge. So far, there was only been the three games he had played this month, where one of them was free.
"You're not the only one who can play video games." She responded to his clear skepticism. "This one's going to be tons of fun. It's called, 'Only Dance', and I got the accessory for real cheap too." The game was known for being a way for people to get up and dance by following the moves shown on the screen. More points were earned by mimicking the dance moves perfectly. That said, it trule was a gimmick that brought in plenty of normal non-gamer folks that found they didn't play the game as much as they thought they would. So the games and the camera would typically be sold for absurdly low values due to the high supply of people selling used copies.
"Are you sure about spending all this money?" He asked. She had done something similar by randomly buying an extra controller for them. Why was she so fine with spending cash for something that wasn't considered her hobby?
"Don't worry, I'm sure you can tell papa's well off." Well, it was easy to spend other people's money. Though to be fair, other than the house that man didn't seem to buy anything. Apparently the trill he got from his adventures were more than enough. So she pretty much got to spend whatever she wanted. "Now, let's go put the disk in and set this camera up."
"Why?" He asked, but she ignored his lack of enthusiasm as she got up and changed the disks. "This is kind of random, isn't it?"
"What are you talking about?" Apparently she did have a reason for going out to buy this bargain bin game and nearly junk camera. Just like everyone at school, she was aware of the upcoming sports day. As was known on the internet, dance games like this made for a good workout.
"Ugh, I don't play video games for exercise." He complained as she got the camera set up and calibrated to her body. "Maybe I'll just go to my room and let you have your fun."
"You can't do that." She took his arms and pulled the boy onto his feet. "We gotta get ready for sports day. You don't want to faint like last year."
"Does everyone know about?" He quipped as the game got loaded up and she went through the list of songs for them to dance to. "I don't want to do stupid things with you."
"It's not stupid, it's fun." She replied as if those were mutually exclusive things. "Besides, once you get going you'll see how fun it is." Shiuka switched it onto a co-op mode and picked out one of her favorite J-pop songs. That wasn't the genre he was into, but given how adamant she was for trying this out with him. Hakuta was going to try his best for her sake.
"Fine, we get one song together." He relented and looked at the screen about to start their musical number.