They had met a month before Aoba's birthday. Noiz' shop was at spitting distance of Aoba's work, and he kept passing in front of the colourful storefront in his way to and from his own shop. He wasn't much into videogames, but the bright drawings of the cases were calling him; so one day he decided to use his lunch break to go and take a look. It was a rather small shop, and at that hour only a couple of nerd-looking teens were shuffling through the racks. Aoba stopped at the door, once inside, hesitant and rather lost. He let his gaze wander around, and after a long pause he approached the shelves that contained coil games. He took a case out of a rack; the cover showed a sniper targeting two soldiers in a tank, the three of them featuring a dangerous and tough look.

"Tsstch. That's not for you."

The videogame case almost fell from his hands. Startled, Aoba turned to face the voice at his back. A boy in his late teens was looking at him with a crooked smirk on his face, featuring more metal pieces on his face than any other person Aoba had seen before. He was wearing a strange outfit, all in neon green, black and white, that somehow seemed too short for the guy, unless it was designed that way (Aoba couldn't decide if that was the case). And, the most important issue here, Aoba wasn't sure if the guy worked at the shop or if he was just a curious passer-by as himself.

"Why?" he asked all the same.

The boy took the videogame from Aoba's hands and studied the cover.

"This rack you are glancing at only has shooters. And that's not the kind of game you would enjoy."

His voice sounded monotonous, almost as if his owner was bored and about to yawn, and Aoba felt a bit offended. What did that brat know about his tastes? What if he wanted to spend his evenings shooting at every cartoon-like character he could get in his coil? That was no one else's business.

"Oh, wouldn't I?"

"I highly doubt it."

The brat with the piercings and the strange sense of fashion stared at him without smiling, a solemn air surrounding him like an aura, and the retort Aoba had at the tip of his tongue faded away. He bit his lower lip, uneasy.

"So… then, any suggestions?"

The boy seemed to come out from his reverie and straightened up, taking a more professional manner, and Aoba's doubt about if he was working there or not finally cleared up.

"Right, come over here…" The boy walked to the next aisle and took a videogame from another rack. He offered it to Aoba with a tiny smile. "This is the game for you."

Aoba reached for it and studied the cover, where a number of cute animals and children stood on a little and green world.

"Animal Crossing?" he asked, voice full of disbelief. "Isn't it too childish?"

The boy shrugged.

"It suits you."

"Oi! What are you implying?!"

But the boy turned away and walked to the other side of the counter.

"Just try it. If you don't like it, then bring it back and you can change it for another game."

That seemed fair. So Aoba glanced again at the game cover, sighed, and opened his coil app to pay for the game.

He came back to the shop some days later. The boy with the piercings was playing to something on his coil, sitting behind the counter, but he raised his face to look at him the moment he heard the door. At seeing Aoba, he frowned.

"Oh. I was wrong, after all", he muttered.

Aoba chuckled and shook his head, approaching the counter.

"No, you were right, I'm enjoying Animal Crossing."

"Ah!" A smug grin spread by the boy's features, making his green eyes shine. "I hardly ever fail."

"How do you do that?" Aoba was really curious; of course every shop assistant learned in the end the sort of customers they got and more or less what kind of items they were looking for. But videogames? Did he have written on his face that he loved to listen to cute creatures explaining him their endless problems and asking him to do all sort of stuff?

The boy just shrugged, still smiling at him.

"I suppose it's one of my abundant hidden talents."

Aoba smiled back, amused. The nerve of that boy! Giving him a better look, Aoba wondered where was he from, because he had a strong accent, rather exotic, and those green eyes didn't look as contact lenses…

"I wonder…"

"…What my other hidden talents are?" the boy interrupted.

Aoba blinked. Is he flirting at me?, he thought. No, that can't be it.

"I was going to say, if you could guess what kind of game I want now."

The boy turned serious and looked around, thoughtful.

"…You want a game for your computer or console. Computer, I think."

"Right! How did you know?"

"You will be playing Animal Crossing on your coil for a while, so you couldn't be searching for another coil game. Animal Crossing is pretty addictive."

"Alright… In fact, I didn't mind if the games were for my console, I have a…"

"Superconsole XD."

Aoba opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words.

"Do I fall under a usual category of customers who always have a Superconsole XD, or something?" he asked at last.

The boy laughed in earnest.

"What? No! The first day you came in you gave a quick look to the Superconsole XD games before going for the coil games, that's all!"

Aoba felt rather stupid; one didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to notice that.

"Hehe, you should see your face right now. Do you always get embarrassed so easily?"

Aoba made an effort to at least smile back.

"It's… one of my own hidden talents, I guess", he retorted.

That made the boy smirk again.

"Ha! And what was that about categories of customers that you were talking about?"

"Oh, that was…" Aoba shrugged, unable to explain. "Something I made out in the shop I work. It's just around the corner, the junk shop".

"Really? Perhaps I'll pay you a visit one of these days."

"Please do it. And now, if you have any game recommendations for me…"

Ten minutes later, Aoba went out the shop with a new Steam account and a long, long list of games suggestions to download. The boy, who answered to the strange name of "Noiz", was a bit overenthusiastic when he started to talk about videogames, and it seemed he didn't mind losing some business in exchange of finding someone who wouldn't mind to listen to his ramblings without complaining… as Aoba found out the next day, when Noiz appeared in his shop. And the next day, too. And the next.