Deconstruction

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka left the dormitory with a trash bag, but quickly returned. This time, he was holding a game console in his hands, and who knew how many points it had cost.

Beihai's study session was forced to a halt, and he looked at the other with confusion, "Are you this persistent?"

"Ah? Studying needs a balance of work and rest, probably."

This statement left Beihai feeling a bit uncertain. Wasn't this guy trying to do something?

After all this fuss, he just wanted to give him a game console and ruin his study plans, messing with his focus?!

The two sat on the floor, the Switch placed in front of them, its controllers detached into two halves—the left one in Beihai's hand, the right one in Kiyotaka Kiyotaka's.

"So, what's the real reason? Someone like you, I don't think you'd come looking for me."

Beihai controlled his character, feeling as if he had returned to his past life.

Though his studies were lacking, when it came to other so-called trivial skills, Beihai was proficient in all of them.

You never knew how far someone would go to teach themselves just to play certain games.

But thinking about it reminded him of the fools from before, blurting out things like, "Where's the decompression from? Where do I download this? What letters does it change to, aza or what?"

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka didn't speak, just operated his own character, his expression unchanged, not even a flicker when his character fell.

"Hey, are you going easy on me? Isn't that a bit too obvious?"

With a click, the button sounds stopped. Kiyotaka finally moved, turning his head to look at Beihai and said, "No, just a misplay. Everyone makes mistakes."

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka felt his answer was perfectly normal. When humans play games, going easy can make the winner happier, and it's even a way to build rapport.

But Beihai found this attitude annoying. Going easy was fine, but doing it in front of a top-tier gaming expert?

If it were a genuine mistake, he wouldn't say anything, but this kind of play clearly showed disrespect!

Of course, this also carried some resentment from his past life. In this era, there were e-sports players, but back then, there was no such thing—games were just electronic opium.

That was Beihai's only sanctuary. If not for the suffocating family situation in this world and the need to study hard, he would have started collecting in earnest, like the Fallout series. Sometimes, games aged like fine wine, getting better with time.

This also shaped Beihai's observation skills, since some old games required not only immense patience but also tolerating clunky systems, massive text, and fragmented storylines, all of which had to be pieced together, discovered, and endured with long-term patience.

"Kiyotaka, have you ever lost?"

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka felt those words pierce his heart. His eyes finally showed a flicker of movement, no longer a dead calm. Strangely, it became interesting—did he want to defeat me, or had he seen through my disguise?

But thinking that Beihai was a pretender like himself, and far superior at it, seeing through him seemed perfectly normal.

This also meant his disguise was completely useless. So, had that move been a mistake?

Deliberately losing had only stirred up his competitive spirit.

Though he didn't answer, his body unconsciously straightened, and both of them began to focus, getting serious.

As the fighting game displayed the words "Fight Start," they immediately began probing attacks.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka used his superhuman speed and moves, initially pushing Beihai back step by step, but later, Beihai started fighting more fiercely.

It felt like the other had read his mind.

Being suppressed in this domain—was it because he had no experience?

No, that wasn't right. Even without prior experience, after a few rounds to get used to the controls, playing wasn't hard.

Fighting games had combos, but largely, they were rock-paper-scissors, predicting the opponent's moves.

Beihai had seen through his thoughts!

Not just every action, but even the decisions for the next character!

Whenever he tried to change his playstyle, the other always knew and blocked perfectly.

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka unconsciously fell into deep thought, watching his character Chun-Li at one-third health, which was far more than Beihai's sliver of health. Logically, with equal skill, it should have been a sure win, especially since he advanced cautiously, seizing an opening to unleash a special move!

The game character lunged forward, then kicked—one, two, three, four times! Blocking still drained health.

But Beihai's character clung to life with that sliver, not dying. The other had perfectly blocked within 0.35 seconds, reacting swiftly to Chun-Li's multi-hit attack, blocking every single one!

After the defense, he immediately counterattacked, finishing off Kiyotaka's character in one combo.

"Lost."

He uttered two words flatly. Strangely, at that moment, his heartbeat had quickened, and his hands even trembled slightly. Kiyotaka Kiyotaka wondered what this state was.

"You lost, but that's normal. Your thinking seems a bit rigid, like a bot.

Either you want maximum profit, or you go crazy midway. But sometimes, being too steady and defensive actually limits your play."

"Again."

Kiyotaka Kiyotaka wanted to rediscover that feeling—something entirely different from anything he had learned before, and more than that, he wanted to deconstruct his opponent in the same way.

Beihai didn't refuse, after all, the other party was genuinely skilled and improving at a remarkable pace.

Time flew by quickly, and Beihai couldn't win every round, but that was normal—games had wins and losses; no matter how superb your technique, sometimes a pure brute force rush would steamroll right over you.

Before they knew it, the sun had set. Though the sky wasn't completely dark yet, the surroundings had dimmed to the point where they needed to turn on the lights to see clearly.

"I had a great time today. This game console must have cost you a lot of points. If things don't go well, you might not have many points left next month. Kiyotaka, will you have any problems in your daily life?"

It was already dark and they hadn't eaten. Now either they could go grab a meal together or head home separately. Beihai just threw it out casually.

"That's nothing. We're friends now, right?"