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Ti rolled back ten years, perhaps even further into the past.
It was a scorching sumr day in Kyoto, inside a bustling, popular arcade.
"Whoa~! This kid's incredible! He smashed the 'Cyber Empress' record like it was nothing!"
"Cyber Empress? Who's that?"
Beneath the giant central screen of the arcade, a small boy who'd just removed his hands from the joystick glanced back curiously at the admiring crowd behind him. His young face bore an unusually calm, indifferent expression for his age.
"She's… uh…"
The unexpected question montarily flustered the gathered crowd.
"Ah, I get it. You're new here, right? First ti at this arcade, huh? You see that scoreboard up there? The top scorer—that's… well, now it's second place, actually."
"Oh…?"
Young Bokue Keikain looked up at the screen.
Above the bright flashing letters spelling "WINNER" was a separate electronic scoreboard, clearly listing the IDs of the top five players. His own ID was now at the top, anwhile, the second-place ID was a string of Japanese katakana.
"Aiba… Asagi?"
"That's her! You see, she's known as the Cyber Empress, she—"
Noticing that the small boy, who'd just claid the top spot, seed intrigued, a helpful bystander enthusiastically began to explain. But before he could say anything more, another voice cheerfully piped up from further back in the crowd, seemingly eager for drama:
"Oh hey, speak of the devil! Haven't seen you around for days, little Empress! Bad news—soone just broke your record!"
"Eh? Seriously…? Who?"
Replying was a cute blonde girl with bright red eyes and two adorable twintails.
The voice from earlier continued eagerly fanning the flas:
"Well, guess what—he's right over there! You gonna let him get away with knocking you down a spot? You can't let that slide, right? Better challenge him and reclaim your throne!"
"Hmm…"
Asagi didn't respond imdiately, instead pushing gently through the gathered onlookers until she stood beneath the central big screen. Her gaze quickly settled on the boy still seated in front of the arcade machine.
"What's your na?"
"Bokue Keikain. You're Asagi Aiba?"
Young Bokue carefully sized her up and down.
"Yeah."
Asagi nodded seriously. Simple, straightforward greetings were normal among children.
But before she could say anything else, the murmuring crowd behind them suddenly erupted into hushed whispers of surprise.
"Keikain? He just said Keikain, didn't he? Like the famous Keikain clan?"
"You dummy, that's impossible! Why would the heirs of so famous Onmyōji family waste their precious ti gaming in a place like this…?"
"Hmm, true…?"
Ignoring the murmurs behind him, Bokue casually turned back to the blonde girl in front of him, raising his thumb confidently towards the arcade cabinet next to him.
"Wanna have a match?"
"…Sure, why not."
Asagi hesitated barely half a second before swiftly accepting. She settled into the empty seat beside him, facing the linked competitive arcade machine.
"What ga?"
"Any is fine with ."
"Then, let's just play the one you were playing before."
Kids always possessed a competitive spirit. Asagi glanced up at the scoreboard with determination.
The ga she'd been beaten in was a bullet-hell shooter. She hadn't completely cleared it on the highest difficulty yet, but judging from Bokue's newly posted score, he hadn't achieved perfection either.
That ant there was definitely a chance for her to reclaim the top spot!
Both quickly selected the ga, and their match comnced.
Twenty minutes later, after sweating nervously through wave after wave of bullets, young Asagi gasped in dismay as her avatar burst into a pixelated explosion amidst the endless barrage on-screen.
Ga over.
On the other side, Bokue, having already completed one run previously, calmly maneuvered his character through dense enemy fire. Not only was he effortlessly dodging everything, but he also deliberately grazed near-misses for extra points.
"Hmm? You're done already?"
Sensing her gaze from beside him, Bokue paused the ga and turned towards her.
"Want another round? Or maybe try sothing else?"
"Um… no thanks."
Asagi hesitated briefly, then shook her head gently.
"I can't stay out much longer today. I should head ho now."
"Alright then. Maybe next ti?"
Without pressing further, Bokue simply resud his paused ga, returning to the task of improving his score.
Asagi watched him silently for a few lingering seconds, then quietly turned and exited the bustling arcade, heading ho.
❁❁❁❁
Several days passed by swiftly.
"Oh, you're still here today? Care for a match?"
"Hm? Oh, it's you. Sure, let's play! Haven't seen you around lately though?"
"I… had so family stuff to deal with."
The match started.
The match ended.
Once again, Asagi lost.
"You said you couldn't co, but you seem even better now. Were you secretly practicing sowhere else?"
"What do you an, secretly practicing? I've just been playing at ho."
"Isn't playing at ho still playing, sa as here?"
"Well, it's slightly different. My mom… isn't feeling well, so I have to stay ho to look after her most days. I only occasionally sneak out to play a little."
"Oh… In that case, why not just play at your place next ti? Saves you the trouble of sneaking out."
"Yeah! Sounds great, let's do that."
❁❁❁❁
Two carefree sumr months passed by in the blink of an eye, autumn approaching quietly.
"Man, sumr's almost over already. We'll be starting kindergarten soon, so we can't play freely like this every day anymore, huh?"
"Eh? You're going to kindergarten too, Bokue?"
"…What else would I be doing? We're the sa age, you know."
"Oh no—I just ant, aren't you from the Keikain clan? Do Onmyōji really need to attend school too?"
"Even if we're Onmyōji, we can't exactly dodge mandatory education completely, right?"
"True. I just hope we end up in the sa kindergarten class! Oh, by the way, why weren't you around these last couple days?"
"Ah, Irina dropped by and invited hiking. I considered asking you along, but then thought you'd probably be busy at ho, so I decided against it."
"Irina… huh."
For the first ti in her young life, Asagi felt an unfamiliar sour pang inside her chest.
❁❁❁❁
Three more fleeting years rushed past. After their kindergarten graduation ceremony concluded, the two kids who'd shared a class for three entire years finally faced their last sumr vacation before starting elentary school.
"Ah~ finally, sumr break! Mom's health has improved so much lately. She even said we can all go sowhere fun together this sumr. You'll have ti to co, right, Bokue? Also, when we start elentary school after vacation, do you think we'll still be in the sa class?"
"Hard to say. But this sumr, I'm afraid I probably won't be able to hang out much."
"Eh? Why not?"
"The Keikain clan and the Hero Village have organized so joint training program. It's like… The Avengers, I guess? Anyway, all the younger generation must participate. You know how it is—I'm the Keikain clan's current Acting head, so while I usually skip regular training, I can't dodge this one."
"Ah… I see…"
Thus began a sumr that felt unusually tedious and empty.
❁❁❁❁
That year, sumr felt particularly endless and dull.
At last, after two painfully slow months, the evening of the first day of elentary school arrived at the Keikain residence.
"Hey, Yura-chan, Yura-chan! Where's your brother? Bokue didn't show up at school today—is he at ho?"
"My brother, he… he's not here. He went away… Nobody knows where he is…"
"…Eh?"
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