Chapter 9: The Dreaded Saturday "Outing"

It's Saturday morning.

My favorite day of the week.

My curtains are drawn. My room is dark. My gaming chair is... perfectly molded to my body.

I am in my sacred "at-home" uniform: a pair of old gray sweatpants and a t-shirt from a "Street Fighter" tournament I won last year. My long, stupid hair is piled on top of my head in a bun so messy it could be a modern art exhibit.

This is my peace.

My parents are at work.

It's just me, a family-sized bag of shrimp chips, and the brand-new "Cybernetic Dawn" expansion.

"This," I whisper to my computer screen, "is living."

BRRRING! BRRRING!

My phone, lying on the desk, vibrates so hard it sounds angry.

I glare at it.

Don't...

BRRRING!

Tch.

I snatch it up. The caller ID says "Rika."

She's the only one I'll answer for.

"What?"

"AOI-CHAAAAAN! GOOD MORNING!"

I pull the phone away from my ear. She's so loud.

"It's morning," I grumble. "It is not good."

"It's beautiful! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and we are going to the mall!"

I look at my curtains. "No. We're not."

"Yes, we are! There's a new limited-edition strawberry-matcha-deluxe parfait at the dessert cafe, and it has our names all over it!"

"Too many people. Too loud. Too... sticky."

"Aoi-chaaan!" she whines.

Suddenly, the voice on the phone changes.

"AOI! MY QUEEN OF DARKNESS! MY SULTANA OF SARCASM!"

Ugh. Toujo.

"Rika is right! You must emerge from your gamer cave! We must go! Forth! Into the world!"

"No."

"Why nooooot?!"

"I'm busy."

"You are not busy! You are playing that robot game! That is not busy, that is nerdy!"

"You're a professional gamer," I say flatly. "Don't call me nerdy."

"I'm an e-sports athlete," he says, his voice all high and mighty. "It's different! I'm cool! Now, come on! I have a brilliant idea!"

"Your ideas are never brilliant."

"This one is! We'll go downtown. We'll go... to the river! And we'll skip rocks! And... and... try to find a kappa!"

"Kappas aren't real, you moron."

"You don't know that! You've never looked!"

I can hear Rika grab the phone back.

"Aoi-chan... please? For me?" Her voice is all sweet and pleading.

Sigh.

She's my weakness. My one, single weakness.

"I just... I need new running shoes," Rika says. "Mine have a hole. And... I don't want to go with just my idiot brother."

"HEY! I AM A DELIGHT!" Toujo shouts in the background.

I look at my screen. The login prompt for "Cybernetic Dawn" is pulsing.

I look at my shrimp chips.

I sigh.

"One hour," I say.

"YAY!"

"One. Hour," I repeat. "We get your shoes. We go to the bookstore. And then I am coming home. No parfaits. No kappas."

"Okay, okay! Deal! It's a date!"

"It is not a date," I growl.

"See you in an hour! Love you, mean it, bye!" Toujo yells, and hangs up.

I stare at the phone.

Ugh.

The public.

I drag myself out of my chair.

This is going to be a disaster.

I pull on the last clean clothes I have: black jeans, an old band t-shirt, and my favorite gray hoodie. I tie my hair back in a low ponytail.

"Alright," I mutter to my reflection. "Bloody Twilight" mode: Engaged.

Time to face the world.

It's going to be so loud.