Takemura Itsuki

“Huh? You play using a girl’s skin?” Haruto said in disgust as he looked at my television screen which showed a muscular black woman with a medium-sized gun kept up her right shoulder, with her hand at the handle.

“They say that it’s better to use a girl skin, because they’re usually skinnier than boys’,” I replied uninterestedly as I played another game on my smartphone which was constantly vomiting out the sounds of slashes of swords and hard footsteps of the characters on the wild run.

“Huh?” He said as he glared at the black girl and narrowed his eyes. “… I won’t really use the adjective ‘skinny’ for her, to be honest.”

“Oh, yeah, this character’s kinda fleshy.”

He turned his head backward at me. “I still don’t wanna play with a girl, though.”

I, who was facing my bed, turned my head left at her, looked at him with my dark narrowed uninterested eyes, and said, “Will this shit really really hurt your male ego?”

“Male reputation, I’d like to say.”

“Then let it rip, bruh. I don’t care.” I turned to my phone again.

“Ah!” He said irritably as he turned back towards the screen. He looked at the screen seriously—while trying to figure out what has to be done to get the game starting—as he moved his fingers on the controller and the sound of the clicks on the screen grew and grew. “Uhm…” He said, reading something on the screen.

I was busy looking into the angry frowning face of one of the fantasy characters of the game saying something with Japanese text inside the dialogue below the screen. “Watashi wa anata ni koko…” I moved my head slightly up and yawned. I covered my mouth with my left hand in between my yawn, and then turned my eyeballs a little leftwards, sneaking into the screen of Haruto. I looked at the figure of a black woman with a dark blue tank top wandering around amateurishly as she turned left, looked at the house over there in the middle of the trees, and then turned right, on the other side of the road where she stood. “Get into that house,” I said. “I bet there’d be some valuable stuff inside.”

“Huh? How do you know?”

“Just get inside, pal,” I irritably said.

“Okay,” He said as the woman started walking towards that house. The figure amateurishly turned right, and then left, and then got the right angle to face the door and then push it forward to open it. The door opened, and she went inside. The drawing room was spacious and wide open with quite a good amount of space to roam around.

“Now, head to the upper floor.”

“Aye aye,” He replied as the figure turned left on the stairway and walked up. The figure unrealistically moved as she quickly turned right on the U-turn a little bit too much, and then she turned a little left, and continued moving up. “So, what’s in here?”

“Head left onto the balcony,” I commanded as I seriously and dedicatedly had my eyes stuck on the screen. The figure turned left, and then again, a little right to get the correct angle, and moved towards the door beside the window from where sunshine had its way in. The figure slammed itself on the wall, and then turned a little left unrealistically again to get the correct angle, and then pushed open the door, which moved a little more backward than how much it was supposed to be, and then she moved onto the balcony. She turned left, and then looked at a black object which gave out purple streaks of light around it as we two saw it.

“Man!” He said in astonishment. “A purple lighting means it’s a rare item, ain’t it?!”

I smiled in pride. “Now take it up.”

“Obviously I will!” He said excitedly as he moved the figure towards the gun and then picked it up. He then moved the camera angle and showed the front of the woman. “Damn! How cool she looks!”

“Yeah, she’s even said to be a ‘beautiful murderer’ in the community. She’s cool, beautiful, and horrific.”

“Pal!” He screamed as he looked at the figure with his sparkling eyes and his open mouth. “Cooooooool!”

“Enough, man, enough,” I said with a smile as I turned at him. “Just don’t forget, a good weapon doesn’t mean you win. A good weapon will only add up to your skills, and not increase them magically.”

“Yeah yeah,” He said as he moved the figure left at the balcony, and then made her jump. She jumped off the balcony and stood on the ground perfectly fine. She then started wandering around here and there moving right and left amateurishly as he looked at her in awe with his sparkling eyes.

I looked at him smiling and smiled a little too. Then, I turned at the screen and looked at what he was doing. I frowned and said, “Aye, don’t move here and there in the open, or you will—” BANG! The gunshot was loud and clear as the female character lay on the ground with some red vapors running up and the gun—among other vital equipment such as a medic box, ammo, etc.—beside her. He turned his head at me, and I turned my head at him. We both looked at each other, both shocked with their eyes open and chin moved a little down. Then, he burst into laughter, “HAHAHAHSAHASAHAA!”

I smiled too and said, “Man, fate is such a…”