Japan, 1995
To most at her college, 21 year old Kogasa Gotozato was your typical ditzy “Gyaru”, hanging around the popular girls, talking about fashion and typical “girl things.” But Kogasa had a major secret, she was actually a massive otaku obsessed with video games, hanging around the arcade during her free time. She often got weird looks from the nerdy kids who frequented the arcade, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to have fun, plus, she was good at it. *Really* good. She was always at the very top of the hi-score board, much to the frustration of one Mitsu Ikegami. Mitsu was a quiet boy, who had skipped a grade early on in school, leaving him isolated from other students his age. Now 15, he had become somewhat disinterested in his studies, instead becoming obsessed with games, much to the ire of his wealthy parents. koharu and Mitsu would spend hours trying to beat each other at various games, though never meeting face to face, until one fateful day when the two would reach for the same machine, only for the timid boy to politely wait for the strange, towering girl to take her turn. Watching her play, he witnessed her skill firsthand, he realized, this was the mysterious player he could never beat! He had overheard stories of the mysterious college girl who would sometimes appear at the arcade, but never actually believed that a girl, let alone an adult one, would be spending her time in here. He found his eyes drifting to her strange clothes and exotic tanned skin, his teenage hormones acting up as he couldn’t help but stare. His stupor was broken as the girl swore loudly, and he turned to see her score, only a few points off of her previous high score but still just ahead of his. As she turned to face him, their eyes locked briefly, and the boy found himself lost in them, his heart skipping a beat as he finally realized, what he felt was nothing short of love at first sight.
Over the coming weeks, he would go out of his way to meet her at the arcade, watching her skills and learning from them. He would often find his eyes wandering over her, watching her intent expression and blushing as a bead of nervous sweat ran down her neck and into her ample cleavage. One day he finally made up his mind, and this time, when she went to switch off with him, he stopped her.
“Umm.. w-w-what’s your name?”
“I’m Kogasa. Gotozato Kogasa, that’s why I’m GZK on the board.”
“Well, uhh, I’m, uhh, M-Mitsu… uhh… umm… uhh..” he stuttered, burying his face in his hands.
“Well then, “Mitsu UhhUmmUhh”, nice to meet you!” She held out a hand while grinning ear to ear.
Mitsu nodded and smiled back, taking her hand.
He gulped and suddenly burst. “IJUSTWANTED TOSAYYOULOOKREALLYPRETYYANDILIKEYOUANDWANTTOGOOUTWITHYOUPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEdont… tell… anyone I said that. Oh boy.”
The girl was taken aback by this, unsure what to say. Then she giggled.
“Ohemgee thats totally adorable but uhh, first off, you’re like, a kid, and second… uhh… well…”
She leaned in close, her breath causing the hairs to stand up on his neck as she whispered: “I’m actually, like, into girls, not boys.”
And then reality collapsed.