There’s something kind of funny about this guy. Every time I look at him it’s almost as if I see a younger version of myself, so full of life.

I fear his disposition is due to him running away from something, I mean at that point in my life I guess I was too. I wish I had someone to fall back on, someone to help me out in those times.

Ugh, what am I thinking? This is way too much social interaction for me. Can I really do this?

He looks as me with a cocky smile, I don’t want that to ever go away. There is a burden you start to carry once life has wiped that smile away a few times and you can no longer be yourself.

But honestly, I think I’m just looking for a friend. I can say I’m looking or even working to help someone else, but I feel as if so much of this is selfish. It’s not like I have everything figured out right now either.

Am I just wanting to fix him instead of fixing myself?

Maybe I just want the company.

“Say, uh. I just got off work, did you want to go to the arcade or something?”

He looks about in confusion, man he’s really sticking to this whole isekai vampire routine, even in his reactions.

“What’s the significance? I don’t have any money, as you can see, I just got here.”

I honestly can’t tell if he’s doing a bit, if he really heard me and is just pretending to feign ignorance on what an arcade is or he really just doesn’t know.

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Either way, I guess we are going to the arcade!

“What is this sorcery?” Hiro looks at the machine with the enthusiasm of a toddler who has just discovered a Mintendo for the first time.

This is the arcade I’ve been going to every day since I started work at the business centre across the road. It’s not the flashiest establishment by any means – it’s just a small single room with three arcade machines and two gacha machines. It’s humble, but it’s enough for me – they have all my favourite games here, even keeping some titles which have been generally phased out in most stores across the country.

The feeling of coming back here after a hard day at work and immersing myself in games I used to play as a kid is the only way to return to that simpler time. A time where I didn’t have bills to pay, food to make and generally just enjoyed whatever I wanted to without consequence.

That’s why I find this sight so unsettling, I think this guy’s life has been tougher than I could’ve ever imagined. Never even seen a video game before.

I feel like someone who has just taken the virginity away from a young maiden.

Wait.

That’s inappropriate. Don’t get your thoughts dirty, okay?

I’m talking about video game virginity! Video game virginity I tell you!

But honestly, this feels nice. I’m glad I was the one who got to show him these things; based on what I know about this guy so far, I think he’ll love them.

There are things that have been concerning me about this situation though, I mean if he really is an Otaku with a serious case of late-life Chūnibyō, then how has he never seen an arcade before? Without the arcade, I don’t know how I would’ve made all the strides I did towards being a total expert in culture.

“Didn’t you ever play games like this as a kid?” I ask with a solemn tone, I want him to know that I’m being genuinely curious – outside of character, just real.

He looks at me with complete indifference.

“No.”

I guess different people express their nerdiness in different ways, who am I to judge. I just hope he has a nice place to stay where he can focus on the things he enjoys so much, like I do in my free time.