Private Finished Back in the Game

Kon watched Neon with an attentive gaze, trying to figure out what his next move was. To his surprise, it looked like Neon let him have the win for this round.

"You don't have to go easy on me, you know?" he said, mildly frustrated. "I'm a quick learner. Literally. This might be another game too easy for me, actually." Now he was just being petty. He noticed Neon's hand-eye coordination wasn't as good as his own. That just made keeping up much easier.

"Anyway, if we're doing titles, I'm Konpeitō Hatsu, the manic pixie genki boy leader of The Welcome and Organization society and future Acinaces Arena commentator. Never heard of this ex-legendary gamer Neon Moth, unfortunately."

For the next round, Kon hadn't expected a curve shot. He almost missed the puck but managed to hit it back at the last second.

Really? "I'm getting warmed up?" was the phrase he's using? Like some kind of cartoon villain? What's next, this isn't his final form? That one gave Kon a small laugh.

Kon kept hitting back the puck easily enough. Initially, he would have been afraid of looking like a show-off and would have let Neon have a win, but after experiencing how that felt, he got over it. It was clear Neon was now taking him more seriously.

Most of the time, Kon ignored nicknames. They meant very little. This time, the nickname "Kon-Kon" got an eyebrow raise from him. It was hard to tell if it was a friendly nickname or meant to be insulting to knock him off his game. "Haha, yeah! I was made to be unique. I try to be as memorable and different as possible. Er, but not too much! I wouldn't want to be annoying or anything."

Distracted with the conversation, Kon's movements became slower and sloppier. He managed to get the puck a few times before missing. The puck shot past his hand into his goal.

"Aw, damn. I was doing so well too. I need to pay more attention," he said to himself.

Looking back up at Neon with an apologetic smile, he nodded his head. "Didn't mean to ignore you, there. It sounds like you've done a lot of great things. I try not to be too much of a pest. I used to be when I was younger, but now that I'm trying to hold onto my jobs and I have an organization all about helping people, I've been having to hold myself back."

Now more focused, Konpeitō started hitting the puck harder than before. Quicker, too. His enhanced reflexes, proprioception, and learning made him great at the game, but he wasn't used to multitasking with them. All this was in exchange for his focus on the conversation. He could still speak, but his responses were becoming slower with more pauses.

The part about him finding a purpose in life got sudden burst awkward laughter out of him. He didn't put enough attention in the conversation to hide his mild discomfort towards that comment. He did have a purpose in life now, it was just hard to tell how much it meant to him. Specifically, compared to his previous purpose.

"Ah... yeah..." He hit the puck hard again. "Check games? Uh... I mostly play, hmph, puzzle games. Mysteries and riddles and stuff... Was never very interested in, uh, MMORPGs and all that..."

"Damn," huffed Kon as Neon caught the puck before the countdown ended. He looked down for a second or two, then perked back up.

He was about to talk about how fun the game was, but Neon went into a long list of different games. As he moved out of the way for a new pair of players, he responded to the boy. "Haha, wow. Yeah, you're right about that. Some of those I haven't played. My favorite games are from the When They Cry series. They're like books with sprites paired with them, which is more in line with my preferences.

"I'd appreciate if you stopped calling me Kon-Kon, for the record."