Chapter 1:

Havoc: Obliteration of the Arcade

World's Number One in three months


Her right ear rang from the gunshot fired at point blank range. If it were not for her sister's insane accuracy, her brain matter would have been splattered across the white wall. This was not in the game, mind you. 
In what mundane circumstances would an elder sister point a gun at her little sister? 

Saturday, 14th November, 20XX
A fight in an online forum between user103746 and a streamer named "Hajime" escalated and the two sides decided to meet IRL to settle the matter.

On the footpath of the city square, where the hustle and bustle of city life carried on without a care for the fateful encounter that would forever alter the course of the internet.

"So you're Hajime?"

A silver bell chimed behind the streamer. 

"user103746..." Hajime looked around, but in order to establish eye contact, he found himself compelled to cast his gaze downward. 

"Y-You're a g-girl?!?" Hajime's muffled yelp made it through his mask.

Haru flicked her short and curly hair "What? Too much for a shut-in like you to handle?"

She wore a tank top that ever so slightly revealed her navel,  and a pair of shorts that accentuates her slender frame. Small pearl earrings caught the light, subtly shimmering with every movement. 

She was astronomically pretty. Unbelievably Cute.  Her presence made Hajime's heart race. He wanted to propose right away. The only problem was...

"Hi!... Uh.. Are you... by any chance..." Hajime stuttered with his words "B-Below..." 

"I'm 14. I'll turn fifteen this December"

Hajime frantically looked around for police or any individuals who looked at him with disgust. After all, Hajime was in his thirties, and this girl showed up like they were on a date. He planned on inviting the said user to his room to stream him and have him embarrass himself.

Now that plan was out of the question. There's no way he can invite a 14 year old girl to his room and not have the FBI fly from America to knock on his door. 

"So what's the plan?" Haru shifted her weight from one leg to another  "Wanna hit a restaurant? Or..."

"Let's go to the arcade" 

Haru blinked through her azure blue eyes "Arcade? Who takes a girl to an arcade??"

Hajime was never good with girls. But, he did want to show her who's the boss at gaming. It should be easy...

"The arcade it is. Ya know, to understand each other better." Hajime indicated the direction

"Fine! If you insist. Don't leave crying when I crush you"

"My words right out of my mouth" Hajime cracked his knuckles

The Arcade doors slid open and Haru made herself comfortable in one of the seats. She tapped on the screen and looked at Hajime with gleaming eyes.

"What is it?" Hajime sat down in two seats away from her "What are you looking at?"

Haru scooted towards Hajime, her shoulders inches away from him. 

Hajime could feel her breath on his arms, her azure blue eyes met with his gaze.
Too close! Too close! Too close! Too close! Too close! Too close!
Hajime's heart rate bumped up to overdrive. 

"Shouldn't it be the man who pays on the first date?" Haru clasped her hands and looked at Hajime with sparkling eyes.

She's too cute. Even though it's NOT a date, he shall allow it. After inserting the coin, the machine revved to life. 

"Just so you know, I was the one who set the record in all these games." Hajime said with his grey eyes gleaming through his pearl white hair "No one has beat it since"

"Hmph. We'll see about that" Haru cracked her knuckles and sprung into action.

What followed after was a burst of clicks and clacks. Her hand blurred form the speed with which she operated the controls, it was a symphony of speed and strategy. Hajime's eyes couldn't keep up with the wake of destruction on the screen, the score panel flashing numbers as if it were malfunctioned.

She has already transcended most mortals with her uncanny hand to eye coordination. Her fingers danced across the buttons and joystick, executing intricate maneuvers with flawless execution. With her eyes glued to the neon glazed screen, time seems to have warped around her. Hajime had lost track of time, before he realized, the madness came to an end.

Haru's game was interrupted by the maximum limit of the score panel. The number 99999 flashed on the score board. The tickets spewed out of the machine like a waterfall. A dumbfounded Hajime stared at the panel for a good 5 minutes.

"YO!!! You were spamming buttons!!!" Hajime exclaimed, drawing attention "WHAT WAS THAT?!?"

The score board attracted quite the mob, who stood in awe at the new high score.

"Oi... Is it just me or does that number read above ninety nine thousand?!?"
"It's that girl over there... wait, where did she go??"
"What? Where? Who?"

Before the crowd could catch a glimpse of the stellar beauty who destroyed the machine, Haru dragged Hajime away by the hand.

"There are more games over at the corner, let's try them all out!!" Haru excitedly dashed towards the other game machines, hungry for more. "Hurry up! Hurry up! We don't have all day!!"

In a flash, she broke the record of the other machines as well, hitting the max limit on each one of them, as if it were the manufacturer who was nerfing her. As per the deal, Hajime paid for them all. 

The next in line was the "High Striker". The game where you strike a mallet on a puck and it shows how "strong" the strike was. Haru may have the reflexes of a cheetah, she has the strength of an average teen girl. 

Haru once again, looked at Hajime with sparkling eyes. 

"W-What now?" Hajime inserted a coin "My job is the coin. The rest… you're on your own, girl."

"Hmph... So unromantic..." Haru pouted "Isn't there a single man around who can help this damsel?"

"Leave it to me!!" A strong masculine voice that exuded testosterone burst from the pile of tickets that lay on the ground. Out came a man whose muscles were bigger than the entirety if Haru. She had to crane her neck just to catch a glimpse of his tattoo riddled face.

"W-Where did you come from??" Hajime looked around for any signs of wall breaching. He literally seemed to emerge from the pile of tickets that were the aftermath of Haru's gameplay.

He took the mallet from Haru's hands, gripping it tightly, he drew upon his hidden reservoirs of might, summoning the very essence of his immense prowess. Time seemed to stand still as the mallet descended upon the puck with a deafening crack. The impact unleashed a shockwave, sparks erupted, cascading in a symphony of destruction as the High Striker was obliterated, its frame shattered into fragments. He was a force of nature itself.

Hajime stood there in disbelief as the very coin he inserted rolled back to his legs. The machine obliterated, the tickets erupted from the side. Hajime looked around, and the man disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared. 

That day, a thirty year old man and a teenage girl left the arcade, with every machine spewing out tickets like a volcano, every digit on every score board set to the number '9' and people fighting over the tickets that lay uncollected on the ground. 

"Do you think this arcade will ever recover financially?" Hajime jested

"I don't think so. They might have to consider resetting their machines though"

“You don’t wanna collect the tickets? You can redeem them for all the stuff at the arcade”

After a pause, Haru replied “Nah, I’m good. I don’t want my sister to find out”

“Your sister?”

“Older sister. She’s bad news. She’d sell you to the Yakuza if she finds out.”

“Damn. She sounds like girlfriend material already” Hajime jested “How old is she?”

“Why do you keep asking a girl's age, you creep?!?” Haru cracked into laughter 

Both the individuals walked away from the obliterated arcade, drowned in their laughter, unable to notice the man who trailed them all along. 

The man who destroyed the High Striker. The force of nature. The one with the shadows.

"I must report this to Shizu-dono" He muttered "Haru is roaming around with a suspicious individual"

General Winter (SSK)
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