Hiroki's Secret

Beneath the archway of a wrought iron sign reading "Watsune University" supported by two red brick pillars students flood into the campus for the first day of classes. The welcoming hail of trumpets, drums, and other marching band instruments mixes in with the sounds of chatter and footsteps.

Stood still watching and taking in this new stage of life is Hiroki. His eyes scanned the crowd with a mind on only one thing – finding his future girlfriend.

Despite his attempts in high school, Hiroki completed his third and final year single. He spent his break before university single. And now he would be starting university single. The thought tormented him.

Lonely. Bitter. And Pathetic. That's what he saw in himself.

He was handsome, he was fit and he was the second best player on his high school baseball team.  And yet, none of the girls he asked out would give him a chance.

Not Hanako, the girl who sat in front of him in second year math class. Not Masami, the girl from class three-two who was friends with his teammate, Takeshi. And not Sachiko from student council, his last and final crush of high school.

It wasn't until he confessed to Sachiko that he finally found out the reason why. "Girls don't really like guys who are obsessed with video games," she told him. This revelation broke his world apart.

In that moment, his mind moved at warp speed running through memories of how he talked endlessly about video games at school. Every day, he and his friends talked about the bosses they defeated the previous night, or the new weapons and armor they discovered. In the open classroom – for all the girls to hear.

There's no way anyone that knew Hiroki didn't know how tight a grip gaming had over him. His entire life outside of schoolwork was either baseball or video games.

It was a week after that revelation when Hiroki decided, if he wanted a girlfriend in university, no one could find out how much he indulged in video games. Especially not the cute, the pretty, the gorgeous women he would be meeting in school.

Hiroki finally stepped through the entrance onto the university grounds.

He made his way to his first class and entered an auditorium big enough to fit three hundred students. Hiroki was one of the first dozen of students to enter.

A few people are already seated in the gradating desks that rose in front of the podium and whiteboard.

Hiroki moved toward the steps and made his way to the fourth row. A good spot for someone who doesn't want to look like they care too much, but also not too little, about their studies.

Hiroki thought to try starting a conversation with one of the women around him, but couldn't get the nerve to.

Instead, another male student sits in the seat beside him. They look to each other and give a slight bow. "Nice to meet you, I'm Hiroki Nakamura." "I'm Sora Ichikawa, nice to meet you," the man replied.

After a pause, Sora asked, "did you play baseball in high school?" "Yes, how did you know?" Hiroki responded. "I played against you in the championship tournament." "Seriously? I'm surprised someone remembered me," Hiroki said, trying to be humble.

"You got me out twice that game... and you hit a homerun... and you guys beat us nine to one," Sora said with a cheeky, but half-defeated grin, "are you on the university team?" "I am. You?" Hiroki asked. "I am too"

A professorial-looking man dressed in a brown tweed jacket with elbow patches enters the room, cutting their conversation short. "Welcome all of you new students to our great university. I hope that you all study hard and make us proud to have you here at our school," the man said to the room, "I am Doctor Tanaka."

Later that day, Hiroki makes his way to baseball practice. He enters the dugout and puts his bag down - he notices Sora and gives him a wave.

On the pitching mound, he spots Nobu Harada. A man with a cannon for an arm who threw 150 kilometer per hour fast balls in the championship game against Hiroki's high school team.

"Didn't you play his team in the championships last year?" Sora asks. Hiroki didn't hear Sora come up next to him. He realized he had been staring at Nobu.

"Yes, we did," Hiroki finally replies. "What was the final score?" "Eight to two." "Damn." There's a brief silence between the two of them. "Want to warm up?" asked Sora. "Sure."

Practice finished and all the players start packing up their things in the dugout.

While packing up his bag, Hiroki heard a deep, confident voice behind him, "I'm surprised you didn't join your friend at Odaka," a rival university to Watsune. Hiroki recognized that timbre. His head turned and he saw Nobu, a towering figure slowly approaching him from the field.

"Well, I wanted to go to the same university as my parents."

That wasn't the real reason. An internet search had told Hiroki that Watsune had the highest number of female students of all the universities in Tokyo. "Fair enough," Nobu replied.

Nobu's eyes then looked to Sora, "Hi, I'm Nobu Harada." Sora gave an awkward smile, that of a teenage fan girl shyly meeting her favorite popstar. "Sora Ichikawa," he muttered.

"Do you guys want to come to Isashi's tonight?" a popular spot for students who weren't drinking age yet.

Hiroki didn't want to go. Tonight, he had planned to defeat the final boss, Akumatsu, the King of Demons, as he finally got the Sword of Holy Light from the Divine Swordsmith in the Crypts of Izanami.

"A lot of nursing students will be there," Nobu grinned. Women.

Akumatsu can wait.