The Decision

***

With Jiro's singing and a trip throughout the festival, we all concluded our first cultural festival of high school.

"Good work, everyone. We performed great, and the chances of us winning are high. So, Cheers!" Jiro's words of encouragement. Of course, not in some bar but in front of the vending machine with our juice cans.

Jiro managed to earn 22,600 yen. Since I lost the last game, my earning was 31,700 yen. In the end, the collective amount we got was 54,300 yen. The results will be announced tomorrow in homeroom so we didn't know who won yet.

"Well, now then. What is it that happened in the clubroom?" Jiro finally asked about it.

Since Yoko-san seemed raring to tell them, I gave her the go. She told them everything from her perspective. She particularly pressed on the point that the last game was too good and they were unlucky for not being able to witness it. It felt like she was talking about some kind of rare astronomical event that happens once in a lifetime. Wasn't that a little overboard?

"Hmm... so basically, the all-time famous Esports gamer Raiden somehow ended up playing a match with this guy and he loved his gaming skills so much that he ended up inviting him to join his team SKIMMERS." Jiro perfectly summed up everything trying to digest this fact.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!! COINCIDENCES LIKE THIS HAPPEN IN REAL LIFE TOO??!!" I guess he wasn't able to just simply digest this fact. Makes sense though. It's not every day something this unreal happens around you.

"Is it a big deal?" Kayo simply oblivious to everything as always.

"It is, a big one at that," Jiro confirmed her thoughts for her.

"I see, isn't that good though?"

"Yeah, it is. But the thing is, how does he feel about it? So, what are you going to do?"

"Hmm... I honestly don't know. I am happy that he invited me but... I guess I still need time to think about it."

"Well, think about it seriously then. This decision might change your whole life."

"Yeah," I sighed a little. "Well then, congratulations for performing well from me too. Hopefully, we can win but in case we lose, we did our best. With that, Dismiss!"

"What the hell is that army-type announcement?" We all laughed.

In the end, we ended up winning with a 1000 yen gap. Scary how another loss could have resulted in our defeat.

***

"Let's GOOOOO!!!" Everyone was too hyped.

This was my first time visiting Hakone City. It has also been a week but I haven't answered them yet. This trip is going to be a two-day visit. We were staying at Hotel Okada. We were going to visit the Open Air Museum, Lake Ashi, Mount Fuji sighting, Hakone Shrine and the National Park too.

We reached there at 10:00 AM. We left early in the morning to reach there early. Our club advisor who is also our homeroom teacher, Yoshinaga-Sensei was also with us. Our club doesn't really need an advisor so she doesn't have to do much. That is one of the reasons she agreed to be the advisor. She was also looking pretty hyped for this. Student or Teacher, everyone loves a nice trip, I guess.

On the first day, we visited the Open Air Museum and Lake Ashi. The Museum was wonderful with different kinds of weird statues and many other weird-looking stuff. Jiro would occasionally mimic some statues getting a laugh out of everyone.

Lake Ashi was beautiful too. We rode the pirate ship and even acted like some kind of pirate. Of course, we were making a WeTube Vlog too. We got a good view of Mount Fuji and when the ride was about to end it was almost time for sunset which was also looking really beautiful. After that, we returned to our Hotel and soaked in the Hot Springs.

"Hey, why are you out of it today?" Jiro asked me as we were soaking in the hot springs.

"Huh?" I thought I was hiding it pretty well but he noticed that I was thinking about how to respond all the time.

"So, you still haven't decided what to answer?"

"No."

"You want to try it, don't you?"

"What?"

"I mean, if you didn't want to you would have refused already but since you haven't it means you want to join but there are some kind of second thoughts stopping you from joining."

"I guess... you are right after all."

"So, What is it?"

"I am worried about how Kayo would react to this."

"What?"

"I mean, we are making videos on WeTube and if I join I think I will have fairly less time for WeTube. Even if we are doing it as fun, I wouldn't want to make her sad with my decision."

"What are you? A big idiot? Where is your coolheadedness right now, you idiot?"

"Huh?"

"Why would she be sad? You are going to take a new step in life. I am damn sure she will be over the moon for you. As for the channel, what did you hire me for? It is our task to manage everything now. You just have to record things. So why are you being wishy-washy now." It felt like my mind cleared up after listening to this.

"Yeah, you are right. Thanks for that." I said as I got out of the hot spring.

"It was nothing. Now go and tell her what your decision is."

"Yeah." I now felt stupid. I always knew what kind of girl she was so why was I even doubting anything?

***

"I have decided I will join the team," He told Kayo when she came to meet him in the lobby

"But why did you only call me out? Shouldn't we tell everyone?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you about this first. I will still try my best to make videos for the channel too. I wanted to reassure you about that. I won't leave the channel."

"Don't tell me you were worried about the channel all this time. The channel was just for fun. If you want to do something, you don't have to hesitate to close it."

"I can't possibly do that. It is a special connection between both of us. If not for this channel, we might have not been friends." Kayo was happy to hear these words but there was a slight ache in her heart.

"A... friend, huh?" She said with a murmur. The word 'friend' was causing her dissatisfaction.

"What?" Kazuki didn't hear what she said.

"N-nothing! Anyways, it is a big thing. Let's go tell others too."

"Yeah."

"Also, Congratulations!" She said giving him a bright smile.

"Thanks!" He felt relieved.

***

"Hello, I hope I didn't disturb you."

"No, no. It is alright. I was awake. So, have you made the decision?"

"Yes, I would like to join your team and try Esports."

"Nice. So, do you have a Miscord account? Can you log in right now? Other members also want to meet you."

"Well, that is not possible. Right now, I am in Hakone City for a trip."

"Hakone City, huh? I am jealous. Well, Enjoy then and give me a call when you are back."

"Yes, I will."

I wondered how this decision will affect my life.

The next day, we had more fun and stayed the night at the hotel enjoying the hot springs one last time then on the morning of the 8th of September, we were back home.

(Later he goes on to become one of the most famous Esports players but that's a story for another time.)