Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 25: Nobi Tomoyoshi (4k)

earlier.

"See you tomorrow."

"Bye~"

At the school gate right after school, Nobi Tomoyo didn't participate in any club activities. He walked past his classmates who were saying goodbye and smiling at each other. He was alone, head down, scrolling through his phone and chat history with his friends, up to three days ago.

[3 month 22 day]

[Hero: Your shooting accuracy is amazing! It's just that you lack strength, otherwise you could be a pitcher.]

[Hero: Oh, by the way, I had my dad buy me the new generation of Nintendo handheld consoles. I'm giving you the old one; don't refuse, we're good friends!]

[joker: Ah]

[4 month 2 day]

[Hero: That's great! The school I transferred to started on April Fool's Day. I thought it was a joke, and I almost got late.]

[joker: It's only a few days late.]

[Hero: Haha, but my classmates are all pretty easy to get along with. The guy in front of me is a tough, skilled fighter, unlike me who only knows how to use a katana.]

[Joker: By the way, I should be able to finish your Link Legends save file in a few days.]

[Hero: Great! I heard there's a little Easter egg quest after the ending of this game where you can find statues of Link from different games in the dungeon. Remember to take a screenshot for me!]

[Hero: That's all for now. I'm going to check out what gaming clubs are around here. Bye.]

Nobi typed "How's today?", "What club did you find?", and "I secretly went to our secret base last night," then silently deleted them, sighed, and exited the chat.

[Kryptonite: Not coming to the video game club today?]

[joker: Something came up, maybe next time.]

[Kryptonite: OK]

He breathed a sigh of relief, put away his phone, entered the station at Honkomagome, and got off at Komagome to transfer to the Yamanote Line outer loop.

He lives in Adachi Ward, and his daily commute home takes about 30 minutes, making a round trip more than an hour.

So he never understood why his father insisted on making him study at the private Komagome Academy, where the tuition was not cheap.

"Hmm, cherry blossoms?"

On the subway, Nobi looked strangely at the professional woman sitting opposite him. She had very standard and exquisite makeup and was holding a bunch of neatly tied cherry blossom branches, which gave off a faint fragrance of camellia and cherry blossoms.

He knew this only because the cherry blossoms at the school were of this type.

He had never seen cherry blossoms decorated like this before, so he couldn't help but take a second look.

The woman sitting opposite him noticed his gaze, nodded and smiled slightly at him.

Nobi Tomoyoshi awkwardly looked away and lowered his head, too embarrassed to look again.

The subway soon arrived at his stop. The woman with the cherry blossoms didn't get off; she just sat there quietly, gazing wistfully out the window, seemingly searching for something.

Nobi continued to change trains and returned to the old residential area near Kita-Ayase at about the same time as usual.

As he approached his home, his pace slowed. For him, home was not a warm harbor, but merely a place to sleep and eat.

"."

His head hung even lower, and he struggled to move as if grabbed by a hand reaching out from the ground.

But this short distance of only a dozen meters will eventually come to an end.

At these times, he never complains about the long commute; on the contrary, he feels it's too short.

Nobita took a deep breath, took out his key to open the door, only to find that the door was ajar.

He was a little stunned. He gently pushed open the creaking door. It wasn't surprising that the hallway light was on; his house didn't get much natural light, and some places would be quite dark in the afternoon. But the problem was that his father usually didn't come home until seven or eight in the evening. Why was he home so early today?

He looked down at the shoe cabinet; his father's shoes were scattered haphazardly on the floor, as if he had returned in a hurry.

Nobi paused at the door for more than ten seconds before mentally preparing himself, then walked into the entryway, changed his shoes, and headed towards the reception area.

Just as he expected, his father was sitting quietly at the kotatsu, still wearing his dirty and dusty work uniform, so he must have just returned not long ago.

At this moment, his face was dark and gloomy, like a volcano about to erupt, as he silently stared at the game console in his hand.

Nobita's eyes widened suddenly, and he instinctively reached out and took a step forward, cold sweat instantly breaking out on his brow.

It’s over.

That was the only thought in his mind.

The silence between the two did not last long before Nobi's father raised his head and asked, seemingly calmly.

"Is this yours?"

Nobita trembled and didn't dare to speak.

"I've told you so many times, no games! No games! How many times do I have to tell you before you understand?! A thousand times? Or ten thousand times?!"

Nobi's father, his eyes filled with disappointment, bit down on Nobi, stood up, and, clutching the game console, walked step by step toward Nobi Tomoaki. His voice gradually rose, making Nobi's ears ring.

Nobita bit his lip, forcing himself not to turn and run away, his eyes fixed on the game console in his father's hand.

"I only do it occasionally."

Nobi's father laughed out loud, turned on the game console, and saw the save screen with the playtime clearly displayed: "You think you can fool me? The tricks you're using now are the ones I used back then!! You think I don't understand games?? It's games, pachinko, that ruined my life! Ruined everything!!"

Nobita lowered his head even further and didn't dare to say another word.

The father, panting heavily, suddenly asked.

What's wrong with your glasses?

"He fell."

"Ha, you idiot, is this how you idiot?!" Nobi's father's rage finally reached its peak. As he roared, he slammed the game console he was holding onto the floor.

Thud!

A piece of the game console flew off, bounced a few times on the ground, and the flickering screen was covered with numerous cracks.

That wasn't enough; he also picked up a baseball bat that he had prepared beforehand and smashed it hard against the game console.

"Let you play, I'll let you play!!"

One, two!
With each slam of the baseball bat, the game console, which had been barely intact, was reduced to scattered fragments.

Nobi Tomoyoshi stared blankly, his mouth agape. Each blow felt like a heavy pounding on his heart and a bombardment on his skull!

"The police called me first thing this morning, asking if I, Nobi Tomoyoshi, was home last night. What was I supposed to say? Tell them you secretly went out last night and did something?! Did you think you could leave without anyone noticing?"

"Is this the result of my tolerance?!"

"How much more trouble do you want to cause me before it's enough?!"

"I spent so much money to send you to Komagome Academy so you could take the college entrance exam! Not to learn how to have fun! If we're talking about having fun, I know it better than anyone else, why would I need you to go to school specifically to learn it?!"

Despite his father's roar, Nobi Tomoyo moved slowly and knelt before the shattered game console fragments. He remained silent, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably, dripping onto the tatami mat and broken parts.

"stand up."

Nobi didn't answer, continuing to gather the remaining fragments.

"stand up!"

The father roared and kicked away most of the collected fragments, sending the broken pieces crashing around him with a clatter. Nobita, lying on his stomach, stretched out his body to pick them up and grope. His knees and palms, which were supporting him on the ground, were cut, and blood smeared on the tatami mat, but he was completely unaware.

"You won't listen, huh? I'll show you—get up!!"

The father grabbed his son by the collar, lifted him up, and slammed him against the wall, staring intently at his son, whose glasses were askew and whose eyes were lifeless and tearful.

“This is the path I stumbled on. Your grandparents and your mother all tried to persuade me, hit me, and scolded me—but I just wouldn’t change. It wasn’t until they left that I finally woke up with great difficulty. Do you know how painful that process was? It was a thousand times, ten thousand times more painful than what you are experiencing now!”

"I'm doing this so you won't follow in my footsteps. Read books, read good books, and only then can you—"

"Enough!" Nobi Tomoyoshi interrupted loudly.

His eyes, which had been lifeless, were no longer there. He pushed his father away with his bloodstained hand.

Then he continued to lie on the ground, groped around for a while, found the cassette tape, and held it in his palm.

"Throw it away." Nobita's father picked up a baseball bat and pointed it at Nobita's hand.

Nobi clenched his fist tightly, suppressing his body's instinctive fear, and stared stubbornly at his father.

"I said, throw it away."

"I said I won't throw it away." Nobi took two steps forward and stared at him.

The father's face was terribly dark, his expression shifting, but in the end he picked up the baseball bat and swung it down.

Boom!
A loud bang, and an echo.

"Ho ho."

Nobi slowly lowered his blocking hand. He didn't feel any pain in his hand. His gaze shifted downwards, and he saw that the baseball bat had hit the kotatsu table, not his arm.

His father, breathing heavily, glared at him hatefully: "Do you really have to be a useless piece of trash to be satisfied?"

"You really want to spend your whole life playing with these precious things, being a NEET forever, and never being able to hold your head up high?!"
Nobita bit his lip until it bled, then roared back.

"My classmates can call me trash, my teachers can call me trash, anyone can call me trash, but you have no right to call me trash!"

"I know I'm not a genius, I've known that since elementary school! Studying is just this hard for me, even if you beat me to death, your son will never become the genius you want. I am your failed, worthless son, just like your failed life!!"

"Over the years, you've blamed games, gambling, and me, but you've never dared to blame yourself! Because you know you're the culprit, you've dragged everyone down with you! You've killed almost all your loved ones! You're afraid that once you come to your senses, you won't have the courage to live in this world anymore!! So you can only place all your dissatisfaction and hopes on me, but I can't handle it! I really can't handle it!!"

"Shut up!!!" the father roared, his eyes bloodshot.

"Your arrogance can only be used on me, because in other people's eyes, you are a complete loser, a jinx! They laugh at you and ridicule you without restraint!"

"If there is such a thing as retribution, perhaps my stupidity is the greatest retribution of your life!!"

"I told you to shut up!!"

Snapped--

The resounding slap landed heavily on Nobita's face. The force was so great that he seemed to see a flash of white light, as if he had seen the gates of heaven open for a moment, and he didn't even feel much pain.

"ho"

Filled with resentment and disappointment, Nobita glanced sideways at his father, who was lost in thought, picked up his glasses, which were barely intact, smashed open the door, and ran off in a certain direction without looking back.

Leave this home.

He left this place that didn't belong to him.

He ran wildly, the wind whipping his face, his adrenaline receding, and the burning, persistent pain returning. He could barely feel anything on the left side of his face except pain.

With his swollen face, he weaved through the strange looks of many people, running all the way to the vicinity of his and his friend's secret base—a construction site that had been suspended for a long time.

"Huff...cough cough cough vomit"

He had run too intensely, venting his emotions on the sprint, which caused him to cough and vomit due to the excessive intensity.

He retched for a while before he calmed down, wiped his mouth and eyes, and prepared to go to the construction site.

But a bottle of ice water was handed to him.

It was a girl who looked a little older than him. She wasn't particularly pretty, and she was wearing a convenience store uniform. In the twilight of the setting sun, she held a bottle of ice water and pointed to her face with a smile.

It roughly means to have him apply an ice pack.

"Th-thank you!" Nobita said, accepting the gift.

The girl waved, flashed a bright and cheerful smile, pointed to the convenience store next door, made a goodbye gesture to Nobi, and jogged back to the convenience store.

Nobita stood there stunned for a few seconds before picking up the ice water and applying it to his swollen face.

"hiss"

The sensation, both pleasurable and painful, made him grimace.

But the stranger's simple kindness made him feel that this pain was nothing.

He continued walking towards the construction site.

The construction site is adjacent to Zhongchuan Park, and in one of the fenced-off corners, there is a path that seems to lead nowhere.

But there is actually a relatively secluded corner inside, surrounded on three sides, and all that's needed is to put up a sheet of metal to keep out the wind and rain.

It was discovered by his friend who had transferred schools. Later, Nobi, who lived nearby, gradually built it up. When his friend came over, he would bring him here to play, but rarely took him inside. The two of them slowly and gradually took shape this secret base.

A sponge mattress I picked up and assembled into a bed, bottles I collected while playing a throwing game with friends, and comic books I found at a used bookstore.
Only here could he feel true freedom and ease, free from the oppressive feeling that made him feel suffocated.

He skillfully returned to the secret base, restored the abandoned appearance of the entrance, sat on the sponge cushion he had salvaged, applied ice water to his face, and pulled out a photograph cut in half from under the cushion. It showed a smiling woman.

"Mother."

Nobita's long-standing grievances turned into tears, which couldn't be held back from his eyes. He quickly put the photo away, afraid that it would be stained by his tears.

He cried for a long time, and before he knew it, he hugged the photo to his heart, lay down on the foam mat, the mat he was using as a pillow was wet, but he had already fallen asleep peacefully.

Boom boom!

The sudden roar of a cheap motorcycle startled Nobi awake, who had been asleep for who knows how long.

It was pitch black all around him. He felt parched and instinctively put the photos away carefully. He used his phone's light to find the bottle of mineral water, opened it, and drank half of it in one gulp.

"call"

He let out a long sigh, then stared blankly at the light on his phone.

12:30 minutes.

It's late at night.

What should he do next?
Should we go back to that home?

He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the cassette tape, on which his blood had already congealed into scabs.

"I'm so sorry, Fujimoto. I failed to protect your save file. Someone like me can never become a hero like in a game."

Nobita carefully wiped the cartridge clean with his clothes. On it, Link stood proudly atop a mountain, raising the Master Sword and pointing it at the terrifying monster that filled the sky with darkness.

Just then, a square suddenly appeared on his retina, a clarity he hadn't experienced in a long time.

The "unknown" has started a game; will you, who are qualified, enter?

【accept】

【reject】

(End of this chapter)