Chapter 19 Item Game

Item Game

For a while, I focused on studying with Tachibana-san as my teacher. Unlike her usual curt and distant way of speaking, when it came to teaching, she was incredibly meticulous—“thorough” was the only way to describe it.

Even though I was mentally thirty-five, I didn’t feel uncomfortable being taught by a girl twenty years younger than me. It wasn’t that I lacked pride. I had my own self-respect, cultivated over thirty-five years of life… but when it came to studying, I had always been a slacker. While it felt a bit strange to suddenly take it seriously now, I had no complaints about the person guiding me.

“Oh, I see. So, Li Zheng turned into a tiger because of his cowardly pride and arrogant sense of shame.”

“Ugh. You’re just repeating what’s written.”

Tachibana-san let out an exasperated sigh.

No, seriously, what else was I supposed to get from it? Was there some hidden meaning between the lines or something?

“What I mean is, you sound like you’re analyzing it, but all you’re doing is parroting the words as they are.”

“So… you’re saying I should think about why Li Zheng turned into a tiger?”

“Exactly. He sums it up with those two traits, but maybe his cowardly pride made him ignore what he didn’t understand. Maybe his arrogant shame kept him from asking anyone. That kind of negligence might have led to his transformation. If you read while considering those possibilities, it might suddenly hit you—Li Zheng’s reasoning could apply to yourself. When you realize that, you can read ‘The Legend of Li Zheng’ from a completely different perspective.”

Tachibana-san rattled off her explanation, and it actually made a lot of sense.

“By the way, even after thinking that, I still don’t believe that cowardly pride and arrogant shame could turn a person into a tiger.”

With that, Tachibana-san casually dismissed the premise of a novel deemed worthy of inclusion in a textbook.

To be honest, I had to agree with her.

…Or so I thought. But when I really thought about it, I realized—I, too, had been caught up in a supernatural phenomenon just as unbelievable as turning into a tiger. Remembering that, I almost found myself accepting Li Zheng’s transformation as reasonable.

Maybe if I read “The Legend of Li Zheng” more closely, I might understand why I ended up possessing a boy named Iori.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the type to be consumed by cowardly pride or an arrogant sense of shame when faced with the unknown. The fact that I was here, openly letting Tachibana-san—who was twenty years younger than me—teach me without any embarrassment was proof of that.

“I guess ‘The Legend of Li Zheng’ isn’t much use as a reference.”

“Oh? Are you someone important enough to casually dismiss a novel included in school textbooks?”

“That goes for both of us, doesn’t it?”

Perhaps she agreed, because Tachibana-san didn’t say anything and simply refocused on studying.

We continued working for a while, until Tachibana-san’s phone rang.

“It’s about time to start making dinner.”

Saying that, she stood up.

Now that I thought about it, since we were in her room, she had changed out of her uniform into loungewear. A T-shirt and shorts—an outfit that, considering she had a guest over, exposed quite a bit of skin. Since she didn’t seem to care, I decided not to point it out either.

“Oh? Then I’ll help out too.”

I had already told Kaori over the phone earlier that I wouldn’t need dinner at home today.

Of course, she asked why, so I explained that I was studying at a friend’s house and would be eating dinner there as well. Even though she was always telling me to bring friends over, she still worriedly asked, “Are you sure you’re not being a bother?”

I understood Kaori’s concern perfectly, and I did feel guilty about imposing on Tachibana-san… So I told her, “Next time, when I bring someone over, I’ll be counting on you.”

When I heard Kaori’s delighted voice over the phone, I realized just how much I had been burdening her all this time. Since becoming Iori, this was the first time I had ever heard her sound so genuinely happy.

“No need.”

Back in the present, when I offered to help with dinner, Tachibana-san turned me down.

“No, but I’d feel bad just leaving it all to you.”

“It’s fine. Instead, could you keep an eye on Yuka?”

Just then, as if she had sensed it was time for dinner preparations, Yuka-chan—who had been playing alone in the living room—popped her head into Tachibana-san’s room.

“Got it.”

“Thanks. Yu-chan, I’m going to make dinner now, so play with Onii-chan, okay?”

As soon as Tachibana-san said that, Yuka-chan’s face lit up with excitement.

“Alright, let’s play in the living room.”

From what I had seen while being shown around their home earlier, the kitchen was connected to the living room. That way, Tachibana-san could keep an eye on Yuka-chan while cooking, so it seemed like the best place.

“Okay! Then let’s play a game! A game!”

“Alright. I won’t lose!”

“I’ve never beaten her even once, so good luck.”

Tachibana-san gave me that warning with a slightly amused smile.

I only half-listened to her. Tachibana-san didn’t seem like someone who played games regularly, so I could easily imagine her getting beaten by her younger sister whenever she did.

“Let’s play this one!”

Yuka-chan, brimming with excitement, held up a game—a massively popular racing game developed by a company headquartered in Kyoto.

“Alright, let’s play.”

I had played a previous version of this game on an older console and had taken it seriously enough to participate in online matches.

Honestly, I was confident I wouldn’t lose.

…Well, that said, if I really was about to win, I should probably throw the match somehow. I didn’t want to see Yuka-chan crying, after all.

With that mature thought in mind, I started the game.

“No way.”

I was utterly crushed by Yuka-chan.

“See? I told you, I’ve never beaten her before.”

“Iori, you’re too easy!”

As Yuka-chan laughed heartily, I heard Tachibana-san chuckling from the kitchen.

“L-Let’s go again.”

I forced a smile as I spoke.

“Okay! Let’s play, let’s play!”

And so, I ended up facing Yuka-chan in another match.

When the second countdown hit four, I held down the A button and successfully pulled off a rocket start, immediately leaving several CPU racers behind.

I executed mini-turbos flawlessly through the curves, inching my way up to second place.

Leading the race was Yuka-chan’s character, RoXetta.

Strangely, even though our movements were nearly identical, the gap between us kept widening.

…But this was my chance.

Three mushrooms!

I burned through them all at once, cutting across the sand for a massive shortcut, closing the distance in an instant.

Then, just before crossing the finish line on the final lap, I finally overtook Yuka-chan.

But something felt off—at the last moment, it seemed like she had deliberately let me take the lead.

That’s when it happened.

“A blue shell!?”

A direct hit.

As I got blasted into the air, Yuka-chan zoomed past me and crossed the finish line in first place.

“Ahaha! Iori, this game is all about the items!”

“You should always watch out for blue shells!”

The words of the Tachibana sisters cut deep into my soul.

I trembled with frustration.

After that, I kept challenging Yuka-chan over and over until dinner was ready. But no matter how many times we played, I couldn’t win a single match.

Looking back on how I kept challenging her without a shred of concern for my pride, I reaffirmed something—I really didn’t have a cowardly sense of pride. That said, losing repeatedly did leave me with a fair bit of shame.

Right now, I wanted to crawl into a hole… No.

I wanted to just turn into a tiger already.