Lyrical Sword

Chapter 8 Disappearance

Beta read by Opal and Maglad

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As far as he could recall, he never really hung out outside his everyday life in Fuyuki. Getting up early in the morning, cooking breakfast for Fuji-nee, going to school, and then spending the rest of his evening either practicing in his shed or working part-time at Copenhagen’s.

'Now that I think about it, Issei was pretty much the same, except he focused on his academic life and training as a priest.' No wonder they got along well, the redhead remembered how Shinji on the other hand was known to play arcade and crane games all day. He even invited him along, once or twice. Going from one arcade to the next, rumors even floated around that he was seen using pachinko machines. 

‘Regardless, I didn’t really enjoy going out and meeting at the arcade. Just followed a few TV shows, did homework, or played on my laptop. So how come I’ve jumped universes and still ended up in an arcade!?’ He thought while looking around, as much to his surprise, he found himself in a surprisingly familiar setting, surrounded by eerily familiar, obviously not the exact same, arcade machines in what for all intents and purposes, is a sci-fi world. 'Then again, zombies, spaceships, and magical girls are a thing here, so I should raise the bar on what is actually surprising and what is not.' 

He was worried at first, thinking they accidentally walked into a casino. But the sight of people his age and younger playing around soothed his heart. Now the question was - is he enjoying himself? And he’d admit that at first, he was.

But that novel experience soon broke apart and turned into a sense of despair. This was followed by frustration and anger as the screen before him flashed red with 'You lose!' in bold letters — his character laying on the ground in the background while a large bug-themed alien posed over him for the twentieth time.

"Damn it!" His fists lightly smashed against the metal case, sweat dripping down his face as he decided to invest all of his focus once again in the next match. "Let's do another rematch!" 

The little hooded figure next to him didn't say a word other than a light nod as he passed his watch over the screen to pay for the next round. His hands shook as buttons were smashed countless times, various memorized combos that he learned in the last two hours. Putting as much effort into this match-up than anyone of his recent fights most likely. Yet much to his dismay, what he battled again was no mere simple opponent but an insurmountable mountain of pure skill and precision.

The health bar dwindled to half within the first seconds, not giving him any opportunity to recover, the girl started a series of combos that pushed him beyond his limit. Powerless he watched as his swordsman got delivered a finisher by his opponent and cut open with a rather brutal animation. 

"..." 

Speechless, the young man rested his head on the control panel and let out a long sigh. Looking around, he found the little Medusa staring right back at him with the same stoic face. "Is this your first time playing such games, Lutecia?" He asked, seeing the girl nod her head without a second's thought. "Wow, you're pretty talented at this, I never met anyone as good as you." 

Tilting her head sideways cutely, "I don’t know, aren’t you just bad? Someone said you sucked." Those words hit him like a sledgehammer, sure he wasn't familiar with such things but having to be defeated so easily after so many tries with someone who was equally inexperienced just felt harsh. "Were you really trying?" 

"You don't have to give me that look, guess I'm getting too old for this game." It didn't help that white streaks had been appearing more and more often on his hair. An unavoidable change that was bound to happen with time.