Game Gyaru

Chapter 104: The Mask Unmasked

"That's good." He breathed a deep sigh of relief. A part of Hakuta felt that his actions might've been a bit too much. That he might've went too far and got them to become scared of him. But to him, it was the only way to truly prove his trust to them. "At least I'm finally able to actually talk to you." Though that was only partially the case considering it wasn't their real voice he was hearing.

"I'm glad I can be a little bit more closer to you." They replied. "It's hard having to jump through so many hoops, but maybe it won't have to always been like this." His ears perked up upon hearing this subtle hint."

"Does that mean...?" He said, hinting towards a potential face reveal.

"Take that however you wish." They gave him a vague and cryptic response. With all this build up, he was hoping he wouldn't end up being disappointed by finding out their identity. Though Hakuta wasn't sure what he would be hoping for when he saw their face. It wasn't like he could talk about it to anyone, like how people discuss an online personalities face reveal. At the very least he certainly wouldn't be insulting their appearance even if he felt they were unattractive.

But if this was one of his classmates, then he wondered just who was it within his class who apparently had such an important secret. This entire time he had been under the impression it was him and Shiuka who were the ones keeping something away from everyone. Which made sense considering the circumstances. Surely no one else could compete.

But this wasn't a competition, so he was getting ahead of himself here. "I'm surprised someone like you cares so much for the identity of others. Surely you've made plenty of friends online whom you don't know their faces." This much was true. Online gaming did breed plenty of opportunities to meet new people. Though they only ever stayed as usernames on a screen. But the masked gamer was different to him. They represented a tangible person he could touch and feel.

"That's true, but I have a lot of real friends too. People I see almost everyday that I like seeing." He answered. "And I want you to be a part of that too."

"You could always just pretend you already see me everyday." They responded to his attempt at getting them onto his side. "After all I'm sure you've realized at this point that we're classmates. So surely that just means you've already seen my face as part of your daily life."

"It's not really the same when I don't know which face belongs to you." He shook his head on the idea of it. While they might've been more than happy with this arrangement, he certainly wasn't. "Why are you so adamant about hiding yourself? Surely you have a good reason for it."

"If I told you the reason, then you'll end up finding out my secret." They told him. It was an unsatisfying answer, even if what they were saying made logical sense. "I wish I could tell you, especially you of all people." Hakuta wasn't sure what made him special, but it likely was obvious enough considering they had brought him here of all places.

"You're not the only one with secrets." He knew he had his own private things he kept close to him. Though the boy didn't say this to try and coax them out into saying theirs. It simply was an observation in that he understood, even if he didn't like, why they wanted to keep this to themselves.

It really was unfair of him to want to keep pushing them into revealing their identity. Especially when he was unwilling to go out and tell the world about him living with Shiuka. Then again, he did end up telling this to Rouko. Not that they would know, but maybe that was worth him getting a free secret in return in a karmic sense?

"I just don't know what to do in this situation." The masked gamer threw up their arms in frustration. They would then sit down at one of the desks to rest their head onto their arms. It wasn't just any random desk too, he noticed. It was Ino's, which made sense to him.

Not the specific desk in question, but rather that this person sat down at a desk owned by someone he already knew. Surely with all the attempts to mask themselves, they had the mind to make sure not to choose a desk where he might try and figure out the person by where they sat. "You're a very persistent boy, you realize this, correct?"

"I've heard I can be a bit stubborn." He was reminded of his time on the beach with Ino. He definitely didn't give up back then, but he couldn't tell if he remembered this because of the similarities to the situations. Or that he simply thought this because of Ino, whom he was reminded of due to where they sat. "What can I say? That's just who I am."

"I'm not sure if that's such a good trait." They informed him. "Some people would be turned off by it. But I'm sure it's useful for getting what you want."

"I'm used to not getting anything I want." He said. "Maybe that's why I try so hard. So that if I really wanted something, I could try my best to have it and not lose it."

"The way you put it makes that sound all so sad..." They commented, but didn't further elaborate on why it saddened them to hear him feel this way. "I get how you feel though. There are a lot of things put onto me that I'm not a fan of. It's just a simple matter of life when you're born as someone like myself."

"Is it really that hard?" Since he was unaware of who they were, Hakuta pondered on what kind of life someone would have which would lead them to covering themselves. If during class they acted like everything was normal, then what was the point in hiding this away? Were they trying to this specifically from him? No, that couldn't make sense.

Whenever he had first met them, they were playing in a video game competition. The same went for the second time as well. Was there a reason to hide themselves while gaming? Was there something about the gaming scene they wanted to avoid having learn of who they were? Or perhaps, it was because of whatever it was in their life where being connected to those gaming tournaments would be considered a bad thing.

Hakuta couldn't think of a reason why someone wouldn't want their real self being attached to those gaming tournaments. They were all done simply in good fun, so it wasn't like people knowing who you were meant they'd do anything bad to you.

"A lot of people would say I live a good life, actually." They answered his inquiry. "If you knew though, you might disagree with those people." He wondered how they would figure out his opinion. Was it simply a guess, or was there an understanding from this person that he was unaware of?

"I take it that's why you seem to trust me?" Said Hakuta. "If you don't think I'm like most people."

"Exactly." They said. "The truth is, I've been wanting to tell you who I really am ever since the second time we met." Ever since then, he thought. Now it made the boy feel like his efforts weren't wasteful at all. Or maybe they were since this person apparently wanted to do so without his influence on the situation. "I want to take off my mask right now."

Their sudden declaration nearly caused him to fall out of his seat. This had been the moment he had been waiting for a long time now. Internally, Hakuta took a deep breath to calm his nerves. He needed to play this cool so as to not mess things up.

"You do?" He spoke in as formal of a voice as possible. "By all means, feel free to show me your face... I mean, only because you want to. Not because I'm forcing you to or anything." If his goal was to play it cool, then the boy did a rather poor job doing so.

"Alright, I'll do it." He saw them put down their phone. Then the masked gamer put their hands onto their mask and began to pull it upwards over their face. As the reveal was slowly being made, Hakuta's eyes widened in shock as he learned the identity of the masked gamer.

"Ino?" He spoke instincually as she took off the mask to fully reveal her face to him. "You're 'TheMaskedDemon'?" The boy couldn't believe what he had been seeing.

"What!?" Apparently he wasn't the only one who felt this way... Wait, but they were the only two people in the room and he knew that he wasn't the one who said it. Yet clearly she couldn't have been the one to say it either, since there was no reason for her to be

Someone else was here.