If obtaining happiness also brings tangible material benefits, it sounds really nice.
In that case, at least the parents won't feel too disappointed, right?
The moment Taiga Oono saw this poster, he was determined to win a prize.
If all it takes is clearing a game at the fastest speed to receive a reward of 10 million yen and a family trip, and everyone is a player, he doesn't think he'll be worse off than anyone else.
Having made his decision, he immediately went back home.
Now, there are four known games.
Tetris, Metroid, Super Mario Bros., and Contra.
Taiga Oono loves all four of these games.
He has played these games many times in the past.
Especially Super Mario Bros.
Running all the way back home, he went straight to his bedroom on the second floor.
"Yukie, why are you so agitated?"
Taiga Oono's mother peeked out from the kitchen, looking puzzled as her son ran upstairs.
Taiga Oono's mother is a typical housewife, and his father is the leader of a construction team.
In a Japanese household like theirs, they're somewhat upper-middle class, so overall, their life is quite good.
At the moment, Taiga Oono's mother was preparing dinner at home.
Normally, if Taiga Oono went out, he wouldn't come back for a long time, but today he came back very early.
Curious, Taiga Oono's mother went to the front of his bedroom on the second floor and gently opened the door to look inside.
Then she saw Taiga Oono eagerly playing video games with a game controller in his hand.
Seeing this scene, Taiga Oono's mother sighed softly.
Her child became like this after experiencing a romantic setback, which saddened her.
But the child is also stubborn. If he can't get himself out of the emotional shadow, no one can convince him.
Before, his father forced him to get over his emotional trauma, which eventually led him to run away from home and become a homeless person for half a year, refusing to return home.
In the end, the two of them had to find a way to contact a psychologist for help, and then all they could do was wait for their child to resolve his issues on his own.
Before video games, he never had a smile on his face. Only when facing his parents did he seem to feel a bit guilty.
As a mother, she could naturally feel her child's guilt. She knew her child must want to do something, but sometimes there's a knot in his heart that can't be untied.
With video games, at least he seems much more normal now, and he seems to be gradually willing to talk to people and isn't as withdrawn.
At least compared to before, this is much better.
However, his mother certainly hopes that her child can do even better.
...
From the corner, Taiga Oono took out a stopwatch, then opened the Super Mario Bros. game, took a deep breath, and officially started. He wanted to test how long it would take him on average to clear the game.
Before, he had actually attempted speedrunning games to some extent, but he only played casually. Because video games are the only thing that brings him joy now, he is more focused.
"Yukie, come down for dinner!"
"Yukie?"
"Yukie! What are you doing? Come eat!"
"Okay, Mom, I got it."
Taiga Oono's mother came to his room a little angry, and Taiga Oono only moved his gaze away from the TV screen then glanced at the several speedrun times he had recorded on the side.
Super Mario Bros. takes 20 minutes, during which he carefully studied some places where he could save time, such as jumping over certain parts faster. But he hadn't researched it thoroughly before, so he'd have to do some more research later.
Metroid takes close to two hours, but he feels there are places he can skip.
Then there's Contra, where his speed hovers around half an hour.
Finally, there's Tetris. He can hold on until level 13 is the limit, but he thinks if he tries harder, he should be able to hold on at level 14 for a while.
Thinking like this, he unconsciously came to the dining table and started eating.
He also thought carefully about some key points of speedrunning throughout the meal.
In the past, he was actually someone who was good at summarizing, and now he can use that skill to summarize his speedrunning experiences in video games.
"Yukie, you seem a bit absent-minded. Is something wrong?"
Taiga Oono's mother asked her child with great concern.
Taiga Oono snapped back to reality again and looked up at his mother, then realized that his father had come back at some point.
"Focus on your meal, don't always be so absent-minded."
"Okay, Dad." Taiga Oono was quite obedient today.
Both parents were a little surprised. He looked much better than he did before, which means something must have happened today.
Taiga Oono's mother asked cautiously, "Yukie, did something good happen to you today? You seem to be in a good mood."
Taiga Oono immediately wanted to answer, but when the words reached his lips, he stopped himself.
This is an opportunity that can be proven through video games, but he can't guarantee that he'll actually get first place. If he gives hope to his family and then ends up with a bad result, he'll feel even more guilty towards his parents.
So he just said, "It's nothing major."
Taiga Oono tentatively asked, "Yukie, how do you feel right now?"
"Right now? I feel okay."
"Then my construction team is still short of people, why don't you..."
"No, Dad, I'm not interested in that, as I said before."
"Alright, let's not talk about it. We'll talk about it later."
Taiga Oono's father didn't insist.
And Taiga Oono decided to wait until he actually won a prize before saying anything.
The whole competition process lasts for half a month, so all he has to do is wait patiently until the rankings are announced in half a month.
And each game has three chances to challenge, so he has plenty of opportunities. Tomorrow, he plans to go and see the actual challenge situation, visit several authorized stores in Tokyo, and see the strength of the players there.
He doesn't know the Chinese saying "know yourself and your enemy, and you shall never be defeated," but he knows it's better to observe first.
After dinner, he locked himself in his room and didn't come out until the next day. With dark circles under his eyes, he walked out of his bedroom and hurriedly got dressed, then left home, leaving Taiga Oono's mother a bit puzzled.
But now it seems that the child has indeed changed a bit, which is always a good thing.