Chapter 1: The Retro Gaming World
It was a calm and relaxing day in the city of Onimai. The sun shone brightly, but the cool and crisp air blowing about left everyone feeling refreshed. The combination of the wind combined with the changing colors of the leaves was a keen indication that fall was in full bloom. It was now close to 3:00 PM, and the streets were littered with numerous people that basked in all the beauty that this particular day had to offer. It was around this time that many people were finishing up their shifts at work and beginning to head home to their loved ones. In addition to that, there were many schools that let out for the day around this time. As a result, numerous students poured out of their classrooms, either heading home or somewhere into town to enjoy the rest of the day while it lasted.
Two particular students were walking side by side down one of the many city streets. They were Yuta Sakurada and Minato Senkawa, two second year middle school boys who attended Yotsuba University Affiliated Junior High School as part of Class 2-B. Both boys were about the same height. Yuta had spiky dark brown hair and equally dark brown eyes. Minato by comparison had flatter, grayish hair and light brown eyes. The two of them were still wearing their school uniforms, though Yuta wore a light tan pull-over hooded sweatshirt beneath his uniform's blazer while Minato wore a pale blue sweater vest under his. Both had eager looks of anticipation on their faces as they continued onto their intended destination.
Normally, the two never would've set foot in this part of town, as it was a bit decrepit and run down. Graffiti littered the walls everywhere and it was clear that this area was lacking in most forms of sanitation and trash pickup. However, it was still a goldmine for finding specialty stores that had for the most part gone out of business elsewhere during the last several decades. You see, these kinds of areas catered to a very specific kind of clientele; the kind that was middle-aged and living alone with whatever money they could spare being spent on things they enjoyed from their heyday. As a result these stores, while rather small, were able to remain in business due to the support of such individuals. And thanks to a coincidental thirty-year nostalgia loop period, such places were becoming more and more sought after by today's youth who viewed the items contained inside as cool and retro.
The place that Yuta and Minato sought out was a store that catered to those interested in retro gamers, which is what the two were hoping to become. The two had been active gamers their entire lives. They had met each other right as they started grade school and became best friends once they realized that they shared an interest in games. They spent all of their free time together sharing their passion for gaming and had built up impressive collections of numerous games and gaming consoles over the years. Despite their love of several franchises like Lost Quest and Last Fantasia , the two were not retrogamers and had not played any of the earlier games in those respective series. For a long time, they were content with this. Most people their age that were into gaming were like them in this department, as it was always much more fun to talk about games in the weeks following their release as opposed to games that had been released five, ten, or even twenty years ago. Their opinions on this had changed recently however, all thanks to a single individual who had become the bright shining spark of their days in middle school: Mahiro Oyama
Mahiro Oyama was a female student who, roughly a year ago, had transferred into the same class as Yuta and Minato when they were first year students in Class 1-B. She was an incredibly cute and pretty girl with long pink hair and a slender figure. On top of that, she had a somewhat shy disposition and good-natured personality that caused all the girls in class to quickly befriend her. Being such a popular girl, Yuta and Minato never bothered to give her much of a second thought when she first arrived. After all, she was clearly out of their league and they believed that they had no way to strike up a conversation with her. What could they possibly have in common with her anyway that would allow them to get closer to her? Being middle-school boys, they just weren't at the age where they would contemplate or even consider relationships with anyone of the opposite sex.
All that changed however a few weeks after Mahiro had transferred into their class. It was the day after the release of Lost Quest IX , one of the most anticipated games of the year. Both boys had stayed up late the previous night trying it out and they were eager to share their progress with each other the next day during one of their afternoon free periods. They were in the middle of discussing the game, when out of nowhere Mahiro had appeared at their desk and was eager to join in on the conversation.
To the two boys, this was a mind-blowing moment. Never in a million years would they ever have ever pegged Mahiro of all people as a gaming nerd. A pretty girl her age interested in that kind of stuff was virtually unheard of. Although they had been surprised, they warmly welcomed Mahiro into their conversation and it became apparent that she was as much of a gamer as they were. Midway through the conversation, Mahiro made it apparent that she had previously felt like there was no one else her age that she could share her interests with. Her best girl friends had told her to talk about her games since she always looked so happy when doing so, but she had also wanted to meet some people that she could have a serious discussion with about them. She didn't seem to care at all that Yuta and Minato were boys, she was just happy to have found people who shared her interests. As a result, the three had spent several minutes discussing the game back and forth. Mahiro seemed so happy to have found companions such as them, and Yuta and Minato were happy as well. The other boys in class like Takashi, Mokoto, and Tomoya may have been their friends, but they weren't into games. As a result, Yuta and Minato couldn't have deep conversations about games with anyone other than themselves. Having someone new to share this stuff with was a nice change of pace.
Unfortunately, they hit a snag when Mahiro asked them which game in the Lost Quest series was their favorite. She mentioned that hers was Lost Quest VI , and assumed that it must be theirs as well. They mentioned that they had never played the game before, and Mahiro called them posers for never doing so. It was then that Minato pointed out that the game came out before either of them were born, and this caused Mahiro to collapse on the ground in tears for some reason. After that, they were called out by Satsuki and Minori for making Mahiro cry, which made them feel extremely bad. Mahiro soon apologized to them for what happened, and they were glad that they could continue being friends with her. Unfortunately, that was the start of a strange new period for them: one in which they were both madly in love with Mahiro.
A girl their age that was as much into games as they were, was incredibly nice, and wanted to be friends with them? How could they not fall head over heels for her? Soon after it became apparent that they both liked her, the two had made a pact that they each would be happy with the other if Mahiro asked that one out. Their best case scenario was for her to end up with both of them, but they knew that would likely never happen. In the meantime though, several events began to happen that brought them closer to her.
On Valentine's Day, Mahiro had noticed the two of them sulking over no girls giving them chocolate and decided to give them her last piece of chocolate as a platonic way of cheering them up. The two had acted all cool about it, insisting that they didn't care either way, but deep down they were very happy that she had decided to do something so nice for them. Unfortunately, this friendly gesture unintentionally caused all the other boys in class to turn into chocolate-craving zombies that began to swarm Mahiro, also wanting some from her. When she made it clear that that was her last piece, they instead turned their attention to Yuta and Minato demanding that they give them that last piece. It was an absolute disaster straight out of a horror movie, and one that no one wanted to remember after that. Shortly after, another disaster had happened when Mahiro caught the two trying to sneak into the adults-only section at Tachikawa bookstore. It was one terrible situation after another.
Feeling bad, the two boys realized that they could make it up to Mahiro by reciprocating her gift to them once White Day rolled around. They were hoping that once they gave her a gift, Mahiro would ask at least one of them out. To try and ensure their chances of success, they bought some of the most expensive chocolate they could find. While Mahiro was happy and thankful for their gifts, she didn't end up asking them out and the two were left disappointed and confused. The other boys really dug into them for thinking that Mahiro would be bought out so easily.
After that, they had given up on the prospect of Mahiro ever wanting to be anything more than friends with them. They still admired her from afar, particularly during swim class, though they decided to just leave things as they were since it didn't seem like things would change anytime soon. However, their luck appeared to change on the last day of school before summer break. That day, Mahiro handed Yuta an envelope, and that envelope contained a declaration of love for him. Both boys were ecstatic, as this was everything that they had been working towards for such a long letter told Yuta to meet outside the gym after the final bell, and Yuta saw Mahiro standing there. However, it became apparent that she was confused as to why Yuta was talking to her. Out of nowhere, Satsuki jumped out of the bushes, scaring Yuta and causing him to run off. Despite this, when Satsuki caught up with him, it marked the start of another strange period for him and Minato.
The two had always been fearful of Satsuki and Minori. The two girls acted like bodyguards for all the other girls in class, guarding them against any inappropriate stares or actions from the boys who they regarded as hormonal idiots. Yuta and Minato in particular seemed to always get called out by them for the slightest things that weren't even necessarily their fault.
They had made it clear how much they hated boys, and Yuta and Minato seemed to be their prime targets.
As it turned out however, that love letter was in fact written by Satsuki. The only reason that she and Minori picked on the two boys was because they secretly liked them. The oldest playground story in the book turned out to be true; when a girl picks on a boy it's because she likes him. For the rest of the summer, the four became better acquainted and soon all was forgiven. It was hard for Yuta and Minato to figure out whether or not they could consider the two girls as their girlfriends, but they were on much better terms than ever before. Despite all of it, the two still had their sights set on Mahiro in all her glory and wanted to find a way to get close to her.
More recently, more than one opportunity had come up for them to do so. Several days prior, Mahiro had asked them if they played an MMORPG that she had recently gotten into. Eager at the chance to play a game with her, the two began to play. They hoped that it would give them a chance to be alone with Mahiro in a setting that made her feel extremely relaxed and comfortable, though it was ultimately not to be. As it turned out, a few of Mahiro's female friends had also started playing the game with her. When the boys attempted to get Mahiro alone, her friends threatened them and they immediately backed off. Even so, the fact that they had gotten this close to being with Mahiro was something that they just weren't willing to let go of.
Not long after, on the release day of Last Fantasia XI , the two had run into Mahiro by chance while on their way to buy it. She was planning on buying it as well, and the three of them went to the same store to purchase it at the same time. While they ate lunch afterwards, they discussed their love of the series and how it compared to Lost Quest . The entire experience was great, but a few things that Mahiro had said got the two very intrigued. On the way to the store, Mahiro had mentioned that there weren't too many specialty stores that catered exclusively to games anymore. Also, when mentioning older games in both series, Mahiro had once again unintentionally brought up an older title that the boys were yet to play. Although she had tried to backpedal on her slip of the tongue, the boys still became very intrigued by Mahiro's immense knowledge of older titles that were well before her time. The gears had been set in motion, and the idea of finding a way to explore these older titles was implanted in their heads. Yuta had come up with the idea as they were walking home.
"I got it." Yuta said. "We need to find a gaming specialty store that caters to those that enjoy old titles."
"Huh?" Minato asked. "How is that going to help us?"
"Think about it." Yuta spoke. "Oyama has played all sorts of games since well before our time. As much as she loves to talk about games with us, there's always been a divide between us and her since we've never played any older titles. Did you see how much her face lit up when she talked about Last Fantasia VII ? We could never understand that since we've only played the remake."
"I guess that makes sense." Minato replied. "We tried to do the MMORPG thing like she asked, but her friends prevented us from getting too close to her. When it comes to modern online technology, her friends could easily stand in our way at every opportunity."
"Exactly." Yuta continued. "She's said it herself how her friends can't have serious discussions with her about any kinds of games, but we can. If we find a way to play these older titles and talk to her about them, she'll be over the moon. With older games, there's no usage of online play, and thus no opportunity for any of Oyama's friends to get in our way."
"That's a great idea." Minato said. "Only one problem: Where are we going to find a gaming specialty store? Thanks to the rise of online shopping, such places are practically non-existent at this point. She said so herself. Even most chain stores are having trouble surviving with the economy the way it is."
"Don't worry," Yuta answered. "I'm sure that there's at least one of these stores close by that's still open. We just have to look it up and hope for the best."
Yuta got out his phone and began to search. Minato came up behind him to look at the screen. After a few seconds, their eyes lit up when they saw that there was a match on the screen, and it was within walking distance of the school.
"Oh yeah." they both called out.
The two made plans quickly. The next day after school, they would head to this specialty store to check it out and see if it was the sort of place they were looking for. If it was, they would look for some of the older gaming systems and titles that Mahiro was so fond of and buy a few. They didn't even necessarily need multiple copies, just enough so they could play them together in one of their rooms at home. Luckily, the two received a very generous allowance from their families and they were confident that they had enough money saved up to buy what they needed. After all, how much would a bunch of dusty old games and game systems cost anyway? If they were successful, they might be able to tell Mahiro about it and she might ask to come with them next time.
Unfortunately, getting to this store was easier said than done. This part of the city had a spotty internet connection, so the two were looking for restaurants and other stores that they had seen on the map earlier in order to gain a better sense of where they needed to go.
"How far do you suppose we are from it?" Minato asked a few moments after their internet connection went out.
"Well," Minato answered. "based on what I saw before the connection broke, I think we're only about two blocks away."
As they came to an intersection, Yuta looked around before pointing down one of the nearby streets.
"I think it's down this way." he said.
As the two began to walk down the street, a strange feeling of dread began to permeate their souls. It was unusually quiet, as there was not a single person in sight. Despite this, there were numerous stores scattered throughout the entire block. All of them had a sense of age to them, as if they had been there for years, if not decades. Most windows were dusty, with several signs in them that had been sun bleached from sitting in one place for so long. Many stores also appeared to be vacant. Evidently the economic downturn hadn't managed to escape this part of town either.
Out of nowhere, Minato noticed what they were looking for out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head to confirm it, he smiled and pointed.
"Yuta-kun, I think that's it."
Turning his head in the same direction that Minato was pointing, Yuta's face also lit up when he saw it. There was the specialty gaming store that they had looked up the previous day. It was a relatively small location, sandwiched between an antique jewelry store and a Mediterranean restaurant. The windows were filled with statues of popular gaming characters, and the sign above the door read "TSUIHANRO GAMES".
"C'mon, let's check it out." Yuta said.
"Yeah." Minato replied.
Stepping into the shop, a small bell at the top of the door rang to announce their arrival to whoever was inside. As they entered, Yuta and Minato gasped at what they saw. The shelves were lined end to end with various games and game cases from every era of gaming dating back to the 1980s. There were numerous stands scattered throughout the rest of the store that held various consoles and accessories, as well as small figurines and trading card packs. On the far right corner of the wall was a locked display case that contained several individual games and systems. Although the two could not make out the prices from where they were standing, it was safe to assume that what was in that case represented the most rare and expensive merchandise that the small store had to offer. Fortunately, the two had no intention of spending that kind of money today.
As the bell rang a man sitting behind the counter looked up and smiled at them. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with long black hair that was gathered into a low ponytail behind his neck. He wore rounded red-tinted glasses that sat just below his eyes. He also had on a black shirt with a white gaming controller design patterned on it, as well as dark blue jeans that were held up by a brown braided belt. On the shirt was a nametag that read 'CHIYO', indicating to the two that that must be his name. He seemed very pleased that the two had entered his store.
"Good afternoon." Chiyo said. "How can I help you today?"
Yuta and Minato looked at each other for a few seconds before turning back to Chiyo.
"Um, hi there." Yuta answered. "We're looking for some older titles and systems."
"Yeah," Minato added. "Someone close to us recommended them, and we were hoping to find them and try them out."
"Ah yes, classic older games." Chiyo replied with a smile. "That is what keeps my business running after all. What specific titles are you looking for?"
"Well, we're mainly RPG fans, with a particular love of the Lost Quest and Last Fantasia series. Unfortunately, the earliest game in the former series that we've played is Lost Quest VII while the earliest game that we've played in the latter is Last Fantasia VIII . Someone we know who's also a fan has managed to play just about every game in both series. We don't know how they've done it, but they seem to be a major collector who's collection stretches back to the earliest days of gaming in both software and hardware. Heck, a lot of the titles she's played aren't even available digitally, so we kinda have to come look for them here."
"Well, you came to the right place." Chiyo explained. "My family has spent decades building up a sizable collection of older games for sale, and those particular titles have long been a part of that collection considering their enduring popularity amongst older gamers. The original Last Fantasia was one of the first games I ever played, so I can definitely vouch for it. I take it you guys missed out on the digital purchasing opportunities for a few of these games."
"Yeah." Minato answered. "When we decided to do this, we remembered that we saw a few of these titles on the digital stores for one of our older handhelds. We never thought to buy them at the time because back then we had no money of our own at the time, and back then we were much more concerned with playing contemporary titles exclusively. Until recently, we never would've considered wanting to play these older games, so we never bothered to look them up on those older systems. Unfortunately, the e-shops on those systems were closed a few months ago so we missed our opportunity to purchase them that way. And unfortunately we discovered that the games aren't available to purchase elsewhere due to long standing legal issues related to their soundtracks."
"Yeah, it really does suck." Chiyo said. "They just shut down a digital store offering classical titles for no good reason and cut off entire generations from a massive library of great games. On the plus side, ever since then places like my store have surged in popularity due to the limited availability of these titles and the increasing desires of those from your generation to play these games. I'll be happy to show you what I have to offer."
Chiyo walked out from behind the counter and led the boys over a wall full of cartridges from various gaming systems.
"Well, if you're really eager to jump right into the old school Lost Quest and Last Fantasia games, this is the place to look. Over here, we got the classical titles: Lost Quest I through III and Last Fantasia I through V. Then, moving over to this shelf is the next generation containing Lost Quest IV and V, as well as Last Fantasia VI and VII. Unfortunately, the Last Fantasia series took a hiatus for many years after the company that initially produced them went under, but the void was filled due to the successful release of Lost Quest VI ."
As Chiyo said this, he gestured over to a different part of the wall that contained games in CD jewel cases. One of the titles that prominently stuck out was Lost Quest VI in all its glory.
"So, now that I've shown you what I have available, which games are you interested in purchasing?" Chiyo asked.
Yuta and Minato looked at each other for a few seconds before turning back to Chiyo.
"Well, I guess it mainly depends on the costs of the games as well as the systems that they run on. We don't have any of the consoles that run those games, so our options are a bit limited in those departments."
"Say no more." Chiyo said. "I got a ton of older gaming systems in great condition. Though considering how hard it is to connect them to modern television screens, I think it would be better if you went with a different option that might save you a lot of money and hassle in the long run."
"Oh?" the boys exclaimed.
"Yep, follow me please." Chiyo replied.
Chiyo led the two back to the front desk. Once there, he gestured to the nearby wall where a series of boxes showcased various gaming systems. Upon closer inspection, Yuta and Minato realized that they didn't recognize any of these systems, or the brands that they were associated with. They both turned to Chiyo.
"What are those?" Yuta asked.
"Yeah, I don't think I've ever heard of those." Minato added.
"Those are consoles specifically designed for playing older games; the BentroN consoles." Chiyo replied. "Each one is a multi-unit game system that contains near exact replications of the original hardware from each of those older systems inside them. They also have ports that can use the original cartridges from these older systems. Makes it very easy to play older games like this without taking up much space on the shelf."
Yuta and Minato looked at the consoles in awe. They had no idea that retro systems existed like this. Like Chiyo had said, it could alleviate the problem of playing older games and not take up much space.
"Wow." Minato spoke.
"Super cool." Minato answered.
"Plus, there's more." Chiyo added. "Each system's interface includes modern smoothing algorithms and supports HDMI connections that make the older games look great on modern television screens. Older consoles used to connect to TVs in very different ways from HDMI and AV plugs, but with these you won't need to buy third party adapters to play the games as they were originally intended.
Yuta and Minato were over the moon. These systems would give them the ability to play almost any older game that they desired. They would be closer to Mahiro in no time.
"So what games can each of these compilation consoles play?" Yuta asked.
"Well," Chiyo answered. The top one is the BetroN 3, which supports Famirom, Super Famirom, and Ruler System titles. The one below it is the BetroN sq, which supports Game Pal, Game Pal Color, and Game Pal Hyper titles. The one on the bottom shelf is the BetroN 9. It supports all the titles of both previous consoles, and has a detachable disk drive included for supporting PlaySystem, PlaySystem 2, and Jupiter titles. I feel like if you want the most out of the retrogaming experience, the latter is the one for you.
"Excellent." Yuta exclaimed. ""How much does it cost?"
"¥20,600 with tax."
Yuta and Minato felt their blood turn to ice. That may have been way cheaper than a modern gaming console, almost a third of the cost to be exact, but it was still more than they were planning to spend that day.
"I don't have that much money." Minato said. "What about you Yuta?"
"No." Yuta answered. "I didn't plan on spending that much so I didn't bring nearly that much money."
"Well that's no problem." Chiyo exclaimed. "Unlike those modern big chain stores, I'm not adverse to a little haggling. Why don't you show me how much you have and I'll see what I can do."
Yuta and Minato took out their wallets and proceeded to empty their contents on the counter. By the time they had counted it all, their combined total turned out to be ¥17,742.
"Dammit." Minato exclaimed.
"We're only about ¥3,000 short."
Both boys bowed their heads in defeat which caused Chiyo to start laughing.
"Hey, don't laugh at us." Yuta exclaimed angrily.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." Chiyo laughed. "I mean, your faces were just so priceless."
Both boys got annoyed expressions on their faces as Chiyo willed himself to stop laughing.
"Like I said, I'm not a monster when it comes to cost. I know perfectly well how hard it is for boys your age to save up that kind of money. Tell you what, since I know how much it means for you to get into retro gaming, I'll give you the system for what you have, and I'll throw in a copy of Lost Quest VI for free."
Yuta and Minato were astounded. This guy that they had just met was giving them the best retro console ever at a discount and was including one of the games they wanted for free. And on top of that, the offered game was one that Mahiro had mentioned as a personal favorite of hers. This was absolutely amazing.
"You mean it?" Minato asked.
"You bet." Chiyo answered. "I won't give you a deal like this again, but at least now you have a way of playing these older titles. I expect you to come back when you have more money to buy more games."
"Oh we will, most definitely." Yuta exclaimed. "Can you believe it?" he asked Minato.
"I can't." Minato answered. "Finally, we can play on the same level as Oyama."
"We're going to be so close to her." Yuta exclaimed.
Both boys soon drifted into a miniature daydream where they pictured Mahiro's adorable smile that only ever appeared when she spoke about playing the games she loved. As they did, Chiyo raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, so there's a girl at the bottom of all this?" he asked.
Both boys immediately snapped out of their daydream in a panic. Their looks of bliss were replaced with looks of fear.
"Well, we uh…" Yuta exclaimed.
"It's not like that…" Minato countered.
"You should've said so right from the get-go." Chiyo exclaimed. "That earns you extra points in my book. Tell you what. I'll throw this in as well to help you out."
Chiyo reached downward and pulled up a large green pail with a handle on the top. There was a label wrapped around the pail that read "Senpai's Mystery Shots". Both boys were immediately confused by this.
"What's that supposed to be?" Yuta asked.
"These are energy shots." Chiyo answered. "Think of them as a way to stay up late when you're gaming or doing other kinds of work. They're almost like an in-game stat booster that allows you to power on through when things seem impossible."
"That doesn't explain why you're giving them to us." Minato exclaimed.
"Oh yes, my apologies." Chiyo spoke. "You see, the company that makes these was founded quite recently. As a result, they've decided to test market their product to various smaller demographics that might fit their bill before rolling them out to mainstream stores. As a result, I'm obligated to give these away for free in bulk. Take a look inside."
Yuta and Minato looked inside the pail. There were numerous tiny bottles, all of which were the same color and lacked any kind of distinguishing labels. The boys felt very confused again.
"Why don't they have any labels?" Yuta asked.
"That's one of the best parts about it." Chiyo explained. "They're mystery shots, therefore you have no idea what flavor is in each one. There are twenty per pail, and twenty-seven flavors in total that you might end up tasting. It's a guaranteed surprise in every shot."
"How is this going to help us?" Minato asked.
"Well, you could use it to pull a few all-nighters playing the games that your little girl friend loves so much." Chiyo exclaimed. "Maybe she could even pull one with you if she comes over to your house one night for an all-night retro-gaming session."
"To our house…all-night" Yuta and Minato exclaimed together.
The boys' faces began to turn red and overheat at the thought of such a thing. There was no other choice.
"Deal." the two exclaimed.
Within a few minutes, the boys had paid for the system and the game. Yuta carried the BetroN 9 box, while Minato carried the pail full of the mystery energy shots. Even though they had to tread carefully since they had a fragile game system in their possession, the two were still eager to get home as soon as possible.
On a relatively deserted sidewalk, a young girl with long blue hair walked happily down the street. That girl was Nayuta Tenkawa, a second year middle school student at Yotsuba University Affiliated Junior High School in Class 2-B. School had let out about an hour ago, and Nayuta was happy to be doing something fun for the rest of the afternoon. Normally, she would be hanging out with her friends, but everyone had other things to do that day. Nayuta wasn't worried though, as she knew that her friends would be waiting for her tomorrow when she got to school. Life may have been difficult for her for a long time, but things had finally started to turn around for her.
Nayuta had a relatively hard childhood that she preferred not to reminisce about. Certain events during her childhood eventually caused her much older scientist half-sister Chitose Azuma to become her legal guardian. She loved her onee-san with all her heart, and the love was reciprocated. However, Chitose was a bit disappointed with Nayuta's social development. Nayuta was painfully shy, and was much more comfortable interacting with adults as opposed to children her own age. As a result, Chitose had opted to have Nayuta be homeschooled. Unfortunately, since she couldn't leave Nayuta at home by herself, Chitose would bring Nayuta with her to the University that she worked at. There, Nayuta would spend her days in the university library doing her work and reading extensively. She had a bright mind just like Chitose, and as a result Nayuta wished to become Chitose's research assistant. Chitose had to say no of course due to Nayuta's age, but Nayuta never gave up trying.
Luckily for them both, an opportunity arose that allowed for both of their desires to be met. Mihari Oyama, one of Chitose's students, had developed a drug with her help that turned her older brother Mahiro into a middle school aged girl as part of a greater plan to rehabilitate him into a functioning member of society. Part of this plan involved Mahiro being re-enrolled in middle school with her new friends, and Nayuta found out about this roughly four months after it happened.
After Nayuta showed interest in the project, Chitose saw a golden opportunity. Since Mahiro was technically an adult with the body of a middle school girl, this might allow Nayuta to lower her guard and start coming out of her shell a bit. In addition to this, Chitose was eager to get a firsthand account of Mahiro's experiences in middle school. She killed two birds with one stone by finally allowing Nayuta to be her research assistant through the job of monitoring Mahiro in middle school. To put the plan into action, Nayuta was enrolled in Class 2-B just in time for the start of the new school year.
Chitose wasn't sure what would happen, but Nayuta quickly revealed to Mahiro that she knew the truth about her. It wasn't long afterward that Mahiro and her friends accepted Nayuta into their inner circle. Much to Chitose's surprise, Nayuta adjusted to the group instantaneously and was extremely happy to have finally found friends. Since then, she had gone along with the group on their many adventures. Nayuta had since gone on to state that she wished that this blissful state that they had come to know would last forever, and everyone felt the same way.
Since everyone was busy on this particular day, Nayuta decided to go and meet Chitose at the University to see if there was anything she could do to help out. Chitose was a bit disappointed that Nayuta was still on her about that, but she couldn't deny anything to such a close member of her family. As a result, Chitose had told Nayuta to bring a few bottles of failed formulas from Mihari, Arika, and Tsubasa to a nearby disposal center and then bring back the bottles. The latter was done due to the fact that the University was extremely focused on budgeting and recycling, and it caused no harm since the bottles were always thoroughly cleaned afterwards. Nayuta was happy to do it, and once she got back her and Chitose would head home to have dinner.
"Just bring those bottles to the disposal center and head straight back with the bottles once they're cleaned. You'll be doing us a great favor." Chitose said.
Nayuta smiled as she remembered this exchange. She cared for Chitose so much, and she would do anything to help her out. Deep down, she was also grateful that Chitose had allowed her to finally make friends.
"Even though they were too busy to hang out today, I'm glad that I can expect to see them tomorrow. Plus, I get to help Onee-san with her research. Life has never been better."
As Nayuta was deep in thought, she neared a corner that was fairly close to the disposal center. As she started to round the corner, she heard a couple of male voices heading in her direction.
"Come on man, we gotta get going." one of the voices called out.
Out of nowhere, Nayuta saw a large shadow head straight for her. Before she could react, the shadow slammed into her, causing her to fall backwards and land on the ground with a thud.
"Ow." Nayuta called out. "That hurt."
As Nayuta regained her composure, she became aware of a hand reaching out in front of her. Looking up, she saw a boy her age with spiky brown hair looking at her. Although a bit surprised, Nayuta took the boy's hand and he helped her to her feet. Nayuta quickly brushed herself off and looked over to the people that had helped her up. She saw that the person that had crashed into her was also lying on the ground. A green pail that he had been carrying had also fallen to the ground and tipped over. Numerous bottles inside of it had scattered across the sidewalk. The boy who had helped her up was now trying to help his friend.
"I feel like these boys are in my class." Nayuta thought. "Guess I'd better check."
Nayuta quickly got up her tablet and brought up the class directory. She smiled when she saw the familiar images of the boys pop up on the screen.
"Ah yes, Yuta Sakurada and Minato Senkawa." Nayuta said. "Please forgive me. I'm sorry for crashing into you."
All of a sudden, Nayuta noticed the spilled bottles again and realized that she was no longer holding onto the box of bottles that she had previously been carrying. Looking downward, she noticed that she had dropped the box, and that the bottles inside had also spilled out, dangerously close to the ones that Minato had spilled.
"This isn't good!" She screamed internally.
Frantically, Nayuta began to pick up all of the bottles that she was carrying. While she was doing it, Yuta and Minato also worked to put their bottles back in the pail. Sometime during the exchange, Nayuta thought that she saw Minato's hand cross hers for a brief second, but she quickly wrote it off as her seeing things.
As soon as Nayuta was sure that she had all the bottles she quickly picked up the box.
"Well thanks for helping me up," She said frantically while bowing, "but I really need to get going. Have a nice day ."
While Nayuta finished her sentence, she quickly raced past the boys and rounded the same corner that they did. In no time at all, she was out of sight, leaving Yuta and Minato by themselves once again.
"Isn't she one of Oyama's friends?" Minato asked.
"Yeah." Yuta answered. "Damn, we should've tried to talk to her. She may have proven useful in getting closer to Oyama."
"I don't know." Minato replied. "Minori told me that she's very shy around people she's not close to. I think that's why she ran off like that."
"You're probably right." Yuta said. "Well, no sense dwelling on it, let's get going."
"Right." Minato replied.
Yuta picked up the box containing the game console, while Minato picked up the now-refilled pail of energy shots. As the two continued on their way, they could hardly contain their excitement at finally having a way to be a part of Mahiro's retro gaming world.
End of Chapter 1
2/4/2024
Special thanks to my Patrons: Homura VanRoyen
Author's Note: Hi Everyone. This is a story that I wrote while I was vacationing in Frankfurt, Germany back in September. I had just finished Chapter 6 of The Oyama Project and was stuck with severe writer's block. I came up with this idea after my first experience exploring a city by myself, and decided to write this as a pallete cleanser before writing Chapter 7. I poured a lot of my own personal thoughts and experiences into this piece, as I myself have always loved retro-gaming stores. You may notice a reference or two to some events that happened earlier in 2023 that would seem ancient by now, but I don't think that the delay between when this was written and it's eventual publication will matter too much in those areas.
Unfortunately, for various reasons I was unable to come up with a way to properly reach the ending I had in mind, and thus the story wasn't fully finished. Another big obstacle was the announcement of the Minato-kun is Done For?! doujinshi. Since I didn't want to contradict any information about Minato and/or Yuta that would be revealed in said doujinshi, I decided to put off publishing the story until after it came out. As I expected, I needed to change a few details, mainly in the second part. I ended up moving on from the story, but someone on reddit expressed interest in it when I mentioned it recently, so I've decided to dust it off, fix it up, and finally publish it.
Roughly 3/4 of the story has been written, though most of the second third needs to be cleaned up before it can be released. Don't expect a consistent publication schedule as I am also working on Chapter 11 of The Oyama Project as my first priority. This story does have a fixed length though, so you won't have to worry about how many chapters to expect.
Other than that, I hope you enjoy what I've written. Please be sure to like and comment on this chapter as any feedback you give me is extremely helpful to me as an aspiring writer.
If you enjoy what you've seen so far and you're interested in seeing more, consider supporting me on my P-A-T-R-E-O-N (instructions on how to reach it can be found on my profile). Your support will give me the resources to write more often, and anyone who contributes will be have their name appear in a 'special thanks' section of all future stories that I write.