Sorry for the short delay, here please enjoy!!!
00-01 [Life Story 01]
by Tan-san
My name is Gendou Setsuna, 28 years old, working at ***** Inc., but as of now, I'm staying with my folks here in the country-side.
Today is **th day of September, early autumn, though not much of the leaves have changed their colors to fit the current season yet.
Currently, I'm helping my grand-father with the family smithy, making various tools and utensils, ranging from hoes to simple kitchen knives. All of which are to be delivered to the neighbors whom have requested them.
Some of the tools that we've made are going to the local auction to help with the family income.
It's not like my family is having a hard time with life, it just helps having additional income in this time, you'd never know.
I'm staying here because of a class reunion about to take place a week from now, that's why I had to take a leave in the office. Coincidentally, the smithy right now is packed with orders, that's why I've decided to help, even for a little bit.
During my childhood, I have always idolized my grand-father for being able to make tools from lumps of ores. I've watched and learned from him in regards to using the family smithy.
Out of those sessions, the ones I won't forget are of the times where he was tasked to create a Katana*. For me, those memories are irreplaceable.
I'd always remember that only by watching him strike the reddish-white metal would make shiver, and as the blade would slowly take its shape it would also leave behind an impression.
My grand-father kept reminding me about my reactions as he'd finish making the blades.
"That's so cool!!! Ojii-chan* is so cool!!!" [Child Setsuna]
Even if I keep prattling on, on how beautiful my grand-father makes a Katana, it wouldn’t change the fact that our lineage isn’t that famous. If one would ask someone in regards with this topic, I doubt he or she would be able to recognize the name “Gendou”.
So basically our family smith is just considered as a local blacksmith.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
As I grew, especially on my days in high school, I had slowly become more and more interested with anime and games, mostly of fantasy, action and adventure genres.
I wouldn’t say that I had become addicted to them, but I won’t deny becoming over-zealous on some occasions. They were just that good.
In terms of games, I would often prefer to play MMORPGs*, they’re typically adventure types that lets you choose and design your own characters, and progress throughout game with them.
I preferred the Samurai class just because of their weapon base, the Katana. Maybe it's from the influence of the Katana that grand-father makes or in just sheer infatuation towards the weapon, either way, the class itself has a charm of its own.
It’s sad to note that people like me would tend to be classified as one of the “nerdy” or “quiet” types, especially with my shy nature. It’s not like I was not satisfied with my life, it’s just that having a friend or two is not such a sad life.
Well, it’s not like I’m not at fault here as well. As a child, I would tend to spend most of my free time watching my grand-father in the smithy, rather than to play with our neighbors.
But, all is not lost with my social life during those days. Sometime, early winter, that faithful encounter with a certain someone happens to be the one who’ll change my high school life, forever.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
As I’d remember, it was evening; I had just bought the game that is currently being hyped about at that time from the local retail store.
As I was walking towards the cashier, with my hand and eyes focused on reading the description at the back of the game and with the other hand carrying the groceries asked by my mom, It’s wouldn’t be that surprising if I would cause an accident, and as cliché as it was, it did unfortunately happened.
“Kyaa!” [???]
“Agh!” [Setsuna]
The groceries scattered creating a minor ruckus, luckily for me, it wasn’t that crowded right now, but there were still some bystanders, so it still wasn’t short of embarrassing.
I started to stutter as I said my apology whilst hurriedly picking up the cluttered groceries.
“Oof! S-sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” [Setsuna]
“No, please forgive me as well, I was too busy reading something that I… Gendou-kun?” [???]
“Hmm? Wait, Watanabe-san?” [Setsuna]
“Y-yes, f-fancy meeting you here. Hahaha!” [Asuka]
The one I had bumped into at that time was one of my classmates, Watanabe Asuka, Class Chairman. As one could see, her looks aren’t to be laughed at, well considering that she is one the beauties of our batch.
She has dark brown eyes,
full of energy, a brown pony tail reaching her shoulders, a supermodel-esque
body, a fit and slender body to be exact, adequate breasts, and has a generous
height, to summarize she's really pretty.
But, from what I hear, it’s wasn’t much of her looks that made her famous in class, it’s the fact that she has this friendly attitude along with something like a reliable Onee-chan* vibe, that made her well received by the class.
I think it’s because of her being the class chair that she’d come to know me.
“What‘s Watanabe-san doing here?” [Setsuna]
“Ehh!? Ah! W-well… you see it’s like this…” [Asuka]
My mischievous side perked up, seeing how she reacted, I then probed even further. Well it wasn't every day you got to see one of the “celebrities” in school act like this.
“Are you perhaps…” [Setsuna]
“Well… U-um… You know… I was… Argh!” [Asuka]
“Was… What? You didn’t even let me finish.” [Setsuna]
*sigh* “I was buying a game, happy? But don’t get me wrong, it’s not like one of those Otome-games* or BL-Games*, it’s a RPG type.” [Asuka]
(So, she really is buying a game, and an RPG one at that! I never thought she was the type who’d be into this kind of stuff. Well, considering her status at school… She really has it rough, huh. I’ll try to lay-off a bit.)
“Hahaha, don’t be too tensed. I won’t intrude myself further on your preferences, besides it’s not like it’s going to affect me or anything.” [Setsuna]
“R-really? ...Okay, just don’t make rumors of me about this. It’s a pain to be suddenly bombarded with questions here and there.” [Asuka]
“Yeah, I won’t… So, what game are you planning to buy?” [Setsuna]
“Oh! It’s **********, I’ve heard it’s is the most anticipated game this year.” [Asuka]
“So, you’re buying ********** as well, huh? I guess it really is the most hyped up game now.” [Setsuna]
“Un~, I’m really excited about this one, especially for its game mechanics. Me and my friends are going to… Wait, you’re buying it as well?” [Asuka]
“Well, yes, as you’ve said; it’s the most hyped game of the year. Why?” [Setsuna]
I was wondered why she'd be asking me about it, I was sure that she would only ask me to keep everything that had happened a secret and get on her way.
“A friend of mine and I are planning to play this one as a party of two! …You know? You’re quite different from what they say you are.” [Asuka]
Well it’s not really all their fault that they would spread such rumors about me, I mean, I did pretty much missed my chance to mingle with them in the first place.
“Well I can’t really
help it; I’m not really that good in making friends… I-is there a problem?” [Setsuna]
“Nothing really... Hmmm… I’ve decided!
Gendou-kun, would you like to join my party?” [Asuka]
I could recall me being
shocked with her invitation; I mean in my mind, someone like her wouldn’t have
anything to do with someone like me. But, maybe it was only me being
superficial and what not.
“W-well, if you’re okay
with me.” [Setsuna]
“It’s settled then, in any case, can I have your phone number? I’ll contact you about this on another time. It’s getting late already, I don’t want to worry mom.” [Asuka]
As I agreed, we ended our little chat as we exchanged numbers. I've bought what's needed to be bought and got back home as soon as possible.
I’ll admit I was pretty happy that I had finally had someone I could call a friend, even if we’re not really that close.
But I’ll soon realize that meeting her would change my high school life.
--- --- --- --- --- ---
Misc. Details;
Katana - Japanese sword, known to be used mostly by Samurais
Ojii-chan - can sometimes mean grand-father other times uncle.
MMORPG - stands for; Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
Otome Game - a story based games; literally "Girly Game"
BL Game - BL stands for "Boys Love"
-san -kun -chan - Japanese honorifics, similar to Mr. or Ms.
Author's notes;
So there you have it guys, revised version of [Prologue-01]. Once again, please feel free to enjoy (or not) it and comment for any rants, complaints, or suggestions.
Thanks! \( ^o^ )/
Good work on revising the thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely better that the previous