Super Spark of Duper Pride [OB] - Act I: Motivation

0-14: Dropping a Bombshell (Oni 1 & Spider 14)

Oni 1:

I am Kyouya Sasajima.

And right now, I am hanging out with my friends online.

Kanata, Shun and Skanda.

I befriended the former two at school, when we worked together on a group project.

And we met Skanda online in the very game we're playing right now.

Skanda is the veteran, Shun and Kanata are average players and relatively speaking, I am a beginner to the game.

I am not familiar with video games, spending most of my time helping my mum with chores and on schoolwork at home.

The most I have dabbled in them is a mobile game about cute cats running a restaurant and that's it.

Though with their help, I have gotten pretty good at this game.

We finished another quest and I just used the materials we were rewarded with to make us new gear.

Fighting enemies is fun and all, but I find blacksmithing to be my favourite aspect of this game.

The weapons are actually designed with realism in mind, and those that are not based on a real weapon have good explanations justifying their 'flaws', which I deeply appreciate.

And the satisfaction that comes with making things other people need and want is fulfilling, especially when you get to see them being used in person.

This must be how my grandfather and father felt when they still had their factory.

When I first started playing this game, I thought Shun and Kanata would power level me so I won't hold them back.

But they didn't, instead they match my pace so I can enjoy the natural difficulty progression of the game.

Same with Skanda after he joined us.

Skanda, being a long-time player, has an overleveled character compared to us.

So in order to play alongside us, he has willingly created a new character to build.

These three are all great friends, I am grateful to have them after spending much of my life surrounded by enemies I made, peers who feared me and adults who were judging me.

Speaking of Skanda, he doesn't go for small talk like Shun and Kanata do.

He only talks about 'serious' stuff, mostly tips and tricks on how to get better at the game.

But lately, Skanda has taken an interest in our day-to-day lives.

Kanata, Shun and I mainly talk about our school life and in return, Skanda does the same.

But it seems like he is a reserved and secluded person, and prefers to be alone so he can focus on his studies.

So in the end, we don't know much about his school since he doesn't have much to share in the first place due to him not paying attention to the happenings around him.

I once confided in him about some troubles at my school that no one seemed to care about and how I wanted to do something about it.

He told me to follow my heart and do the right thing.

Thanks to his encouragement, I told everyone off for calling Negishi 'Rihoko' behind her back and told Kogure to stand up for himself.

At the time, I was seriously considering sucker punching Natsume, but Hasebe and Tagawa stepped in to scold him.

And Kogure started standing up for himself against Natsume as well instead of helping him out of fear of being bullied by him.