For a second, Kai just looked at her, surprised. Both were silent. Then he gestured for her to come in, and he himself walked near the table and grabbed a chair. She sat down on the opposite end. Kai activated his holo and wrote,
'How may I help you, Miss Quinn?'
"Uhm.. this is the Nyxfall Club, right?" she asked.
'Yes, I created it just yesterday.'
"Can I join?" she asked, her face mostly neutral, though there was a hint of nervousness in it.
Why was she nervous near him? They weren't unfamiliar with each other—she had been in middle school with him too. He remembered her as one of the top students who always got praised beside him. Still, Kai acted as if he didn't notice and asked with a smile,
'You play Nyxfall?'
"Ah! Is that a requirement?" she asked, looking worried.
'No, there's no such rule. Just asking. You can join even if you don't have the VR headgear. We'll be focusing mostly on the Nyxfall game world, though. Do you know about the game?'
"I've seen videos.."
'Oh, good. Is it your first time, or have you seen or played the first six parts?' Kai asked.
But she didn't answer. Instead, she kept looking at him from different angles, as if trying to recognize him. He couldn't ignore it anymore. He typed,
'If you don't mind, can you tell me why you keep staring at me?'
"Oh! I'm sorry! It's just.. are you OneStepClear?"
Huh? Kai was surprised. For a second, his mind blanked. He hadn't expected anyone at school to recognize him before he even made a name for himself in Nyxfall. His channel name was OneStepClear—he'd been just a brat when he named it, and it had stuck. His gaming channel was famous, but not that famous. Plus, he rarely showed his face.
The only time he had was.. Ah! The new Nyxfall video avatar was an exact copy of his face—just a bit better looking. He couldn't believe someone recognized him from just that...
'You watch my videos?' Kai typed.
Her eyes widened, and she smiled—though it was a small, restrained smile.
Now that was the Sora he knew. Always in control. For a second, he had started to doubt her character.
She nodded quite happily, then said,
"Since you broke Ketamin6's world record in speedrunning Immortal My Name's hardcore mode, I've watched every video you've made. I always thought OneStepClear was an adult man—never did I imagine it would be you. How can you be at the top of the class while playing so many video games and making videos?"
That was one of the early career games he had played. That was quite an old fan.
He couldn't believe one of the most serious girls in class—who always paid attention and worked harder than anyone—loved watching gaming videos in her spare time. He had always thought of her as someone too mainstream for video games.
'I don't play as many games nowadays.. And I just studied well because I had nothing else to do..' Kai typed with a smile.
Obviously, it hadn't been that easy, but he wasn't about to tell just anyone how much he had slaved for both things in his life.
'Anyway, are you really joining the club?'
"Yes. I wanted to follow your guide video and get the Maeka mission, but I saw it too late. I already started on the Stonebinder path and there is no option to go back.."
'Oh! It'll be nice to have someone who can give a different perspective on the story and experience of the game. If I'm not mistaken, all Nexus Kin players eventually have to go to a nearby Stonebinder city. The next part of the story will happen there, and then we'll most likely be sent into a situation where all three player paths will either meet and play together or compete against each other..'
"That's how it is.. So can we still play together?" she asked, a very subtle eagerness in her eyes.
Kai wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't spent a whole lot of time in his past life surrounded by people who were mostly introverts, speaking as little as possible, always focused on their own goals. He had been one of them too, so he understood.
Kai nodded enthusiastically.
Having his own eyes and ears in the Stonebinder city would help a lot. Also, if he knew her well, she was a smart and very athletic girl. She could potentially even earn a fixed spot on his team when he went for the tournament.
That was—if she played as well as she studied.
They talked about the game's story and the club's goal. He told her that he wanted to make a big enough name in the game with the club's help so that people would recognize them throughout the game world. He didn't mention the offline matches, but he did tell her how serious he was about the club's progression in the game and that he would do everything in his power to achieve his goal.
Best thing, she had some knowledge of the previous Nyxfall games, so at least he had one person who could understand when he mentioned references to past game stories.
Soon, an hour passed. Mimi came to pick him up with her friend. Kai exchanged IDs with Sora and promised to add her as a friend later. Well, she already knew his Id. Hers was IgnisBellator. She was embarrassed as she said it, clearly she had copied his latin theme id.
Closing the clubroom, he returned the key to the staffroom and went home with Mimi and Lizzy.
When he reached home, the new headgear and game copy had already arrived. He spent an hour explaining to his mother what she should do and how the game was played.
She was a complete noob—not just to Nyxfall, but to VR games in general.
After lunch, he set her up in her bedroom, starting from the basics—showing her how to turn on the headgear and start playing.
He set up her headgear offline and added her as a friend before she started so he could reach her quickly on the landing planet and show her the basic movements and controls.
As she started the headgear and played around with her avatar, Kai went to his room and put on his own headgear, loading into the landing planet.
He had already told her which planet to choose, so finding her was easy enough.