Jabbering before gaming

Just to be sure, after they were done with the cleaning, Koshiro searched for the anime ‘Old Game?’ on his phone.

"Crap.” he cursed after seeing his idea wasn’t original at all. “I’ll really have to think about something else then.”

Koshiro put his phone in his pocket and went to the stairs, his house was not anything fancy, a pretty normal two-story building with just enough room for four or five people to live without wanting to kill each other. After he got up the stairs he looked to his left, from there he could see a closed door leading to his parents’ room, but he actually turned right, passing through some doors, and finally arriving at his bedroom.

“AAAAAAH!” just as he entered the room, a sudden pain ran through his face, something was tearing it apart.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” it was the black cat Scar, who trilled and jumped off of Koshiro’s face, “I thought it might be a weird cat molester or something.”

“WHY WOULD A CAT MOLESTER BE HERE?” Koshiro was screaming with the cat.

“I don’t know! But It’s better safe than sorry, you know? You’re the one that shouldn’t wake others like that.”

“Aargh.” Koshiro put his hand on his face to see if anything was bleeding, “Anyway, I’m sorry for waking you up again...” he then looked at Scar’s bright eyes: “...but Sumiye is here, so ask her to feed you.”

“Sumiye-chan!” Scar meowed happily and then darted out of the room, skipping.

“I came here earlier to change, and she didn’t move a muscle, but now she starts jumping on my face?” Koshiro sighed.

The boy laid on his bed, “What should I do now?” he analyzed his room: it had enough room to have a bookshelf (with inspirations for his writing), a desk (with a laptop to write and a bunch of jumble on it), a decently sized TV attached to the wall (with a gaming console plugged), an office chair (which he sometimes used to play with by spinning with it and almost breaking everything in the room), a closet (a place where he hid the embarrassing stuff), and a door (that definitely lead somewhere or to something important! But we won't talk about it now).

BE BE… BE BE two notifications on his phone were probably answering his question.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Koshiro said to himself as he looked at the messages:

Nobu: You’re definitely home now so, will you play with us?

Nyoko-chan: Good Evening Koshiro-kun! * - *

He then turned on the TV while typing:

Koshiro (replying to Nobu and Nyoko-chan): Just wait for me on GameStage. I’m on my way. 

***

“It’s been a while Koshiro!” Nobu was the first to say when he joined their voice chat.

“It’s been a while? We literally played two days ago.”

“But it's the first time after the sory started! That’s a while for me, Koshiro.”

“Okay then.

“Good evening Koshiro-kun!” Nyoko greeted him next.

“Good evening Nyoko-chan! How are you doing today?” Koshiro replied.

“Nyoko-chan is great! How about Koshiro-kun?”

“I’m fine as well, although this first day was a bit tiring.”

“It’s okay, Nyoko-chan will hear everything about it!”

“That’s nice, but we should start the game.” Nobu chimed in, “Where’s Hirata?”

“Hirata?” Nyoko and Koshiro asked at the same time.

“Yep, he’s coming tonight, right? Maybe even Yasutake.”

“But isn’t this game only for groups of three?” Koshiro questioned while he started Predator Legends.

“Don’t waste your time! Call your friends! A limited-time event will allow groups of four to play!!” the game announced right after Koshiro finished his sentence.

“Look. it seems that this won’t be a problem.” Nobu said.

“Okay, but what about Yasutake?” Koshiro asked.

“BE BE” Koshiro’s phone got a new message:

Hirata: Erity told me she couldn’t play today! But I’m on my way!

“Nobu.”

“Yes?”

“What are the odds of that?”

“Hmm.” Nobu thought for a bit, “I’d say they’re pretty high.”

“And why is that?”

“Well, if you didn’t realize that this story lacks coherence, you should definitely do it now!”

“Hmm, you're probably right...” “I’m pretty sure there’s already a bunch of mistakes in the logic of it.”

“Hey guys!” Hirata had just joined the chat. “How are you doing tonight? Furukawa-san? Furukawa-chan? Koike-san?”

“Nyoko-chan is great!” Nyoko uttered cheerfully.

“I’m good, and you Hirata?” Nobu replied.

“I’m fine.” Koshiro answered.

“I’m good as well.” Hirata said, “Just a bit disappointed Erity couldn’t come.”

“Yasutake? Is she alright?”

“I don’t think she’s sick or anything, but she didn’t give me many details on why she isn’t coming. Hehe.” Hirata laughed awkwardly.

“If you’re saying then I guess there’s nothing to worry about.” Nobu stated, “Let’s start.”

“If you haven’t started yet.” a voice appeared from Koshiro’s left side “Let me say ‘Hi’ to Furukawa.” it was Sumiye, standing at the threshold of the door with Scar dozing in her arms.

“Oh, Sumiye-chan!” Nobu said after hearing her voice, “Let me say hi, Koshiro.”

“Nyoko-chan wants to say hi to Sumiyechi too!”

Sumiye grabbed the headphone from Koshiro’s head “Excuse me.” with one hand while holding Scar with the other. “Hey, Nobu.”

“Good evening Sumiye-chan, when are you playing with us again??” Nobu seemed more excited than ever.

“Nyoko-chan is here too Sumiyechi! How are you doing?!”

“Sumiye-chan…?” Hirata’s voice sounded confused, “Suto-Sensei?”

“Oh, so you are here too Nyoko-chan! I’m fine, what about you?” she then turned to Koshiro and whispered: “Who is this weirdo calling me 'Suto-Sensei'?”

“It’s Hirata-san, from my class.” Koshiro whispered back.

“The one with a shy shadow?”

“You mean Yasutake-san?”

“Yes! I was sure she had a name! Hmm...” she said, and then returned her attention to the headphone.

“Yeah, everyone has one, Sumi-nee.” Koshiro remarked, but the woman didn't hear him.

“Nyoko-chan is great! Better now that Sumiyechi talked to her!”

“Sumiyechi?” Hirata’s baffled voice wasn’t heard by the others.

“That’s great then! Answering your question Nobu-kun, I’ll pass for today, I don’t know when I’ll be able to play with you again, but I think it’ll be when Daichi comes back. Then we can all play together, alright?”

“Alright, Sumiye-chan!”

“By the way, are you sleeping with Koshiro tonight, Sumiyechi?” Nyoko asked with all the goodwill in the world.

Koshiro smacked his head.

“WHAT??!” Hirata made himself be heard by the others “S-Sleeping w-with Koshiro??!”

“Hahahaha.” Sumiye laughed, “Hey Nyoko-chan.” she called, still smiling. “Don’t word it in a way that can be misinterpreted!”

“Oh! Sorry! Nyoko-chan says sorry!”

“Okay, okay!” Sumiye cracked another smile, “Since his parents aren’t here… I don’t think I’ll sleep with him tonight...” she looked at Koshiro, “...but I’ll sleep in the Koike’s household for today, and probably the next couple of days as well.”

“Why am I only knowing of this now? And why do you have to phrase it weirdly?” Koshiro tried to ask, but Sumiye didn’t give him attention.

“Not... sleep... tonight...?” Hirata’s voice dwindled as a thud was heard, it was probably his body falling off of his chair after he fainted.

“Okay then! Good night to you! Play nice and fair!”

“Thanks, Sumiye-chan! I’m looking forward to playing with you and Daichi again! We’re desperately in need of a good third player you know?? Anyway, good night!”

“Hey, what do you mean by 'good third player'??!” Koshiro shouted to the headphone.

“Oh, yeah, we have Hirata now! I meant fourth player.”

“Hey!” Koshiro protested, but Nobu ignored him.

“Have a good night Sumiyechi! Nyoko-chan is counting on you to take care of Koshiro-kun!”

“Of course! Take care you two, and Hirata…”

“Y-Yes…?” he was still recovering from the fall.

“I’m counting on you two, be a good friend to them!”

“Y-Yes ma’am…”

Sumiye took off the headphone and grinned at Koshiro, who had his right eyebrow twitching.

“Well then, enjoy your game.” she said, and then looked at Scar, in her arms, “We girls will get some rest now.”

Koshiro observed the cat sleeping peacefully in the woman’s arms. Her doze didn’t prevent her from murmuring: “Koshiro... useless... give me... food.”

Koshiro heaved a deep sigh, “Good night.”

“Hey, I’ll do the favor of driving you to school tomorrow, can’t you just give me a proper good night?”

“Aargh.”

“C’mon! don’t be mad just because I played with Hirata-san!”

Koshiro sighed again, “Good night... Sumi-nee.”

“Owwww, thanks! That’s so cute!” she said, then looked at Scar again: “As cute as you, right Scar?”

“Scar… cute… Sumiye-chan…” Scar meowed.

“Good night Koshiro. Sleep well.” Sumiye headed to the door and then started whispering to Scar with a cute and soft voice: “I’m just kidding! You’re the cutest!”

Koshiro followed them with his eyes and then put on his headphones: “Okay, can we finally start playing?”