3 From Gamer to Scholar
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The car slowed to a stop in front of my family's estate. As I stepped outside of the sedan I looked up at my house. Well to call it a house may be a bit of a stretch, but I do not think it was large enough to be call a mansion. It was not considered a modern home, though not ancient enough to be considered traditional. Rather, it seemed to be just a large home, bordering on the edge of being out of style. If I recalled correctly, we decided to move out in a year or so.
I opened the gate that surrounded the house and walked up to the front door. Grasping the knob, I rotated it in a clockwise direction. The door opened with a slight creek which alerted the maid inside. She hurriedly approached the entrance to greet me. I felt a little bad, since she was entering old age and near retirement by the looks of it. Even so, she went through with her greeting, "Welcome back, Young Master." She didn't bow or anything of the sort, she was simply a maid that my family employed to clean the house.
There did not seem to be anyone else inside the house, meaning that this maid was here alone. I wonder if that meant that my parents thought of her as trustworthy enough to not steal anything. Similar to my chauffeur, I could not recall her name. It had been a long time since I had met with people from my household, it was only natural that I forgot the names of our employees over the years.
As such, in the same stance that I had towards to my chauffeur, I simply nodded my head in acknowledgement and passed by her. I went up the stairs that were located to the right, behind the maid. There were multiple doors on the second floor, which was also considered the top floor aside from the attic. I located the door which belonged to my own room, and opened it to see the inside freshly cleaned. The hard wood floors which were present throughout the whole house were left without a speck of dust. The room was large enough to allow the occupancy of a queen sized bed which clearly had new white sheets on it. As it was the summer, there were no extra blankets meant to stay warm. The bed was located directly in the middle of the room, while my desk and computer was to the right of it near the right of it near a window.
I went over to sit on the chair in front of the desk and logged into the computer. As it had been years since I used it, it took more than a couple tries to get the password right. After successfully logging in, I navigated to the web browser. The first thing I looked up was ***, the game that consumed most of my life.
After a few clicks, I stopped. It was because I could not find anything regarding the title. I thought it was strange, the game came out nearly 20 years ago, or now I guess, 8 years ago in the year 2012. It also went competitive a year later in 2013, it surely was big enough to be found on the internet, yet I could not.
Despite looking through most social media platforms and search engines nothing popped up. Based off everything I had seen so far I had thought I had simply returned to the past, but did somethings change? Everything looked the same, my room, my house, and the buildings I passed while on the street; none of it changed. But why could I not find ***? I had thought it was because I did not use the full name, but even after looking up ************** I still could not find it.
In the end, I decided to see if there were other inconsistencies by looking through the current events.
---
After, a couple hours of going trough the events that I remembered happened around this time everything lined up just fine. There was nothing different, thus begged the question, 'Why was there no information on ***?'
To put it simply, it was strange.
Why was there no information on something that came out 8 years ago? No matter how much I thought about it, it did not make sense. *** was the only irregular that I had found. Perhaps if I looked further I could find another, or maybe there was something wrong with my memory. Either way, from what I had seen so far, everything but *** lined up.
*Knock* *Knock*
The knocking I heard from the door snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked outside and it seemed that the sun was starting to set. I probably had a little more time to get ready. I quickly called out to the unidentified person knocking on my door, "Don't worry I'll be ready in a minute!" I suppose that I was acknowledged as the sound of footsteps appeared soon after and got quieter as the seconds flew by signaling the person left.
After that confirmation, I walked over to the closet which was on the same side of the room as the desk, but closer to the door than the window. Since it seemed I was out of time, I ended up not taking a shower which was included in the bathroom on the opposite side of the room, left of the bed.
I picked out something I thought appropriate and walked over to the bathroom to change. After finishing, I looked in the mirror to see how I looked. Well, it didn't really suit me and that was putting it nicely. It was a simple white dress shirt, with a navy jacket suit and light blue tie. The slacks were navy as well to go with the jacket, along with a black belt. To match that belt, the dress shoes were also black.
Now then, as to why I say it doesn't suit me, that was because I am only 13 at the moment. Of course, that was not the only reason, after all there are many 13 year olds who are able to pull off this look. However, those are only good rich kids. Now, while my family was rich, I am not necessarily 'good'. The bangs of my dark brown hair are very long, to the point of obstructing my vision. The reason for this was because my hair grows out rather fast. As I usually don't wear a suit like I am now, nor bother to keep up a good appearance, I don't often get a haircut. I could've gotten a haircut for this occasion, but I guess my past self didn't care much for it.
I tried my best to fix my appearance to match what I was wearing, but it was for the most part, futile. As such, I decided to just comb it over to make my eyes visible. Thus, in a way I was at least presentable.
I left the room after fixing my tie and walked downstairs. Waiting there was my mother who had a smile on her face and my father who seemed surprised.
"You look very handsome Cage," smiled my mother.
"So you actually know how to dress appropriately," scoffed my father.
This was the usual relationship I had with my parents. My mother supported me, even when I decided to become a gamer. As for my father, he was more or less disappointed with how I turned out. He was actually surprised seeing how I was dressed and responded with a rather rough approach.
Akane, my mother, was currently in her late 30's, age had not yet caught up to her as of yet so she looked slightly younger. She was what you could call, a black haired, black eyed beauty. That being the case, I take more after my father, Shin, who had the similar dark brown hair and eyes that I had. He was in his early 40's, but unlike my mother he looked a little more his age. He gave off that stern, cold feeling opposite to my warm mother.
It was slightly awkward being around my parents who looked younger than the last time I saw them, but considering I myself was younger, it was easier to get used to. Since they weren't here when I got home, they must have arrived in the time frame I was on the computer.
It had been over ten seconds since they called out to me, noticing that I nearly caught in thought again I responded to them, "Thanks, I am ready to go now."
With that we walked outside and the chauffeur who pick me up earlier was waiting there. My father called out to him by the name of Ryuu, so I concluded that was his name. We then climbed into the same sedan from earlier and drove off.
As the drive went on I began to think of how we were acquainted with the Yuuki family.
---
My family, the Kondo's, were in the software industry. It just so happens, that the Yuuki's were also in that same industry, thus making us business rivals. Now, how was it possible for business rivals to be inviting each other to their house for dinner? Well, the reason was simple, it was because of the existence of Asuna and myself. We were both the same age and got along great together. That led to the perfect match, uniting the two companies under one banner and creating a superpower. Sadly, things never work out exactly the way people want them to. Last time, I expressed my desire to become a professional gamer; however, that was against the wishes of both families. Especially since my father wanted me to take over the company, and Asuna's mother wanted her daughter to marry someone with a stable future. Since I would become a gamer, I was seen as unreliable, thus was separated from Asuna and Kondo's ties to the Yuuki's were cut. The idea of combining the two companies was also shattered, if I remember correctly, it was decided Asuna's brother would end up taking over the Yuuki business. As for my family, they were left without a successor since I decided to leave the house once I became successful in ***. Even so, no matter how successful in *** I became, I never saw Asuna again.
---
We pulled up in front of the Yuuki estate and got out of the car. After ringing the doorbell next to the gate, we were allowed in. Asuna's family seemed to do a remodeling recently, providing new, tall, lengthy windows, mixing new modern style in with the house's traditional structure. They also added a driveway entry guarded by a gateway to the right of the visitor gate. It provided the feeling that the home was very secure.
When we reached their front door, it was opened up by Asuna. She spoke up to greet my parents first, "Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Kondo," and then turn to me and said, "Hello Cage."
"Hey Asuna," I casually responded.
My mother then scolded me for replying like that to Asuna's polite greeting, "Cage is that how you respond? Try being a little more polite next time."
"Yes Ma'am!"
I was not trying to be sarcastic at all as I gave out my salute.
*Giggle* *Giggle*
Apparently, Asuna found my response to be funny, well it was a mission accomplished then.
All my father could do was frown looking at my small antics as Asuna led us to the dinning table. It appeared that Mr. and Mrs. Yuuki were already present there as we arrived. It was a rectangular table, with Yuuki's on one side while our seats were opposite to theirs. As we sat down, Mr. Yuuki began to pour a glass of red wine to my father to start off the evening. The parents then began casually conversing bringing up multiple topics about some of the current events. A few stuck out as I was just looking them up a few hours earlier. While that was happening, I made small talk with Asuna who sat across from me. I brought up the topic of her brother and where he was, but he seemed to be busy with his internship. Considering that it was already past 7, I was curious as to what sort of internship kept him out so late, but Asuna didn't seem to know either.
The dinner continued as Mrs. Yuuki brought in the food that was previously made, it was unknown whether it was her or their family's maid who made it. I figured it was better to keep silent.
Once we finished that up, Asuna's parents turned the topic of conversation towards me. Her mother was the first to start up the conversation, "So Cage, what are your plans for the future?"
Of course she would like to know that. There were already rumors of me being a disobedient child. That was why Asuna's chauffeur sneered at me earlier; he did not think I was worthy of her. It was only natural the parents would hear these rumors of me through their subordinates. While Asuna could've depicted me in a better light to her parents, who knows if they would take her seriously compared to an adult.
However, any concern Asuna's parents may have of me should disappear soon enough.
After all....
"I am going to become a scholar!"
