Chapter 7: After being invited.
"Morofushi, Sora'aki?" Hagiwara Kenji eyes lit up: "That sounds so cute! Can I call you Lucky-chan? Aki-chan is fine too!"
In Japan, you can customize the pronunciation of your name. Simply put, you can choose your favorite kanji and then select a pronunciation you like.
Just like the character "景" in "Morofushi Hiromitsu," it is quite rare for it to be pronounced as "hiro".
Morofushi Sora'aki, the name of Sora'aki, is also quite interesting. The pronunciation of "sora", which means sky, and "aki", which means bright, can be easily pronounced together with the two "a"s in the middle, which sounds like "so lucky."
This is also the reason why Hagiwara Kenji used this nickname.
Matsuda Jinpei looked somewhat disgusted: "Lucky and all that, doesn't that sound too girly?"
Morofushi Sora'aki also refused the title, brushing the sand off his head and calmly declining, "No."
"Alright then—then I'll just have to call you Sora'aki-chan." Hagiwara Kenji pouted, looking aggrieved, as if he had suffered a great injustice.
Matsuda Jinpei belatedly realized that this guy had skipped the "Morofushi" he was supposed to call out and jumped straight to the name.
In Japan, people only call each other by their first name if they are close to each other; if they are not so close, they usually just call each other by their surname.
Seeing that Morofushi Sora'aki seemed to have no idea what was going on, Matsuda Jinpei's pupils dilated in shock. He suddenly realized how he had been tricked by him and then called "Jinpei-chan".
...I always felt that I absolutely could not become enemies with this person.
"By the way, Jinpei-chan, will you be coming to my family's auto repair shop again?"
Not only that, but we also have to become friends! Matsuda Jinpei's eyes lit up, and he decisively said, "I'll go!"
"A car repair shop?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked in confusion.
Hagiwara Kenji replied with a smile, "My family owns a car repair shop. Jinpei-chan seems quite interested in these things... Oh, right, although you probably already know this, let me introduce myself anyway!"
"My name is Hagiwara Kenji! As for him—" Hagiwara Kenji blinked his bright, sparkling eyes: "Jinpei-chan?"
"Don't call me that!" Matsuda Jinpei turned away with a sour expression: "Matsuda Jinpei, call me Matsuda."
Morofushi Sora'aki understood and immediately said, "Jinpei-chan."
Matsuda Jinpei: "...Hey!!"
Morofushi Sora'aki was even more certain: "Jinpei-chan."
Hagiwara Kenji, with his hands cupping his face, watched the two arguing—well, one-sidedly arguing—and laughed even harder.
He had initially thought the child was a cold person, but he was surprised to find him to be quite interesting.
Completely unaware that he had received the benefits of being an NPC—even if he did know, Hagiwara Kenji wouldn't mind; he simply checked the time and suddenly exclaimed, "Ah!"
"Oh no! It's so late! Mom and Dad will be worried!" Hagiwara Kenji said to Morofushi Sora'aki, looking at the setting sun, "I have to go back now! Let's play together again tomorrow!"
Matsuda Jinpei followed, but before leaving the small park, he called out to Morofushi Sora'aki, "You should go home early too!"
After saying that, Matsuda Jinpei hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter, "...Morofushi!", when urged by Hagiwara Kenji.
Watching the two leave, Morofushi Sora'aki brushed the sand off his clothes and sat back down on the swing.
Up to now, the system has not given him any prompts.
And... shall we play together tomorrow? Morofushi Sora'aki swung his legs on the swing and lowered his eyes.
This was the first time he hadn't done anything; the system hadn't provided any tasks and had simply sent him back to his own world.
Morofushi Sora'aki sat up in bed, climbed off the bed, drew back the curtains, and looked at the sun, which was already high in the sky.
Just then, there was a knock at the door: "Sora'aki? Are you up?"
"Hmm." Morofushi Sora'aki opened the door with a clattering sound in his fluffy slippers. It was his older brother.
Morofushi Hiromitsu smiled and said, "Didn't Sora'aki want to go to the library? How about I take you there this afternoon?"
Morofushi Sora'aki nodded, while Morofushi Hiromitsu met Morofushi Sora'aki's eyes: "Are you happy about your brother taking you to the library?"
Morofushi Sora'aki blinked in confusion, and Morofushi Hiromitsu casually ruffled Morofushi Sora'aki's hair: "Because Sora'aki looks very happy right now."
"Well... Mom has already made breakfast. Come down after you wash your face and brush your teeth, okay?" Morofushi Hiromitsu didn't ask too many questions, just smiled and waved his hand before heading downstairs.
The daily routine of the Morofushi family is extremely simple. After finishing his morning classes, Morofushi Hiromitsu returned around 1 p.m., picked up Morofushi Sora'aki, and headed towards the library.
Holding his older brother's hand, Morofushi Sora'aki didn't object to walking outside. After a moment of silence, Morofushi Sora'aki suddenly raised his head and asked his brother, "If someone said, 'Let's play together tomorrow,' would you go, brother?"
"Hmm?" Morofushi Hiromitsu was somewhat surprised. He lowered his head to meet his younger brother's eyes, thought for two seconds, and said, "I will go."
"Because 'Let's play together tomorrow' is an invitation in itself, and since the other person has made this invitation, they will definitely be looking forward to tomorrow. Even if I can't play with him tomorrow, I still have to tell him that."
Morofushi Hiromitsu explained, "It's like when my older brother doesn't come home for dinner, he'll call Mom and say, 'I'm not coming home, so you don't need to cook my portion.'"
"If I don't tell her, won't Mom make an extra one because she doesn't know?"
This is the simplest of truths.
Seeing his younger brother nod, Morofushi Hiromitsu asked curiously, "Did someone invite Sora'aki to play together?"
"Not a person," Morofushi Sora'aki replied calmly. "It's an NPC in the game."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "...Ahahaha."
That's what he said, but he understood the reasoning his brother was making. In other words, even if he wanted to refuse, he had to refuse on the spot.
Speaking of which—"In the game, what does your brother do if there are no quests?"
"Games?" Morofushi Hiromitsu remarked that his younger brother seemed to really enjoy games lately, and said, "After completing the daily tasks, you can do whatever you want."
"For example, going to the map you want to go to, taking screenshots, chatting with people, etc." Morofushi Hiromitsu's eyes crinkled: "The mission is not mandatory. It doesn't matter if you don't complete it. You'll just miss out on the day's reward."
"The essence of games is to have fun. Everyone has different ways of playing, and just doing quests... can actually be quite boring." After commenting, Morofushi Hiromitsu asked curiously, "So, is Sora'aki playing games right now?"
"Um."
"Can you tell brother what game it is?" Morofushi Hiromitsu asked with a smile, "Maybe your brother played it before."
Morofushi Sora'aki didn't answer, but pointed to the library in front of them: "We're here."
Morofushi Hiromitsu was taken aback and could only temporarily skip the topic.
Morofushi Sora'aki wasn't picky about books; he'd read anything given to him. To prevent Sora'aki from just grabbing the nearest book as soon as he entered, Morofushi Hiromitsu had already done his homework and selected a few interesting books that he himself had read and found acceptable for Sora'aki.
Morofushi Hiromitsu sat opposite his younger brother. After reading half of the book, he looked up at his brother, who was engrossed in reading, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
Although he was diagnosed with autism in the past, and all his symptoms before the age of three were consistent with those of autism, after the age of three, apart from liking to stare blankly in one direction, he seemed to be just a slightly slow-witted child.
His only worry now is that Sora'aki has no friends and won't take the initiative to contact anyone other than his family.
But it seems... there's no need to worry so much? Morofushi Hiromitsu watched his younger brother intently flipping through the book, his blue cat eyes curving into a beautiful arc.
Time seemed to fly by when he was reading, and his daily routine during his break from school was quite regular. As soon as it was time, Morofushi Sora'aki returned to his room, covered himself with the blanket, and closed his eyes.
This time, he appeared once again in that familiar little park.
Morofushi Sora'aki glanced at the sky; it was a bit earlier than yesterday. He sat on the swing for a while and then saw Hagiwara Kenji pulling Matsuda Jinpei as they ran over.
Hagiwara Kenji spotted him immediately and exclaimed with delight, "Great! I almost thought you weren't coming today!"
"Because you invited me," Morofushi Sora'aki replied, sitting on the swing.
Matsuda Jinpei nodded somewhat awkwardly at him, which was his way of saying hello.
From that day on, this abandoned little park seemed to become their secret base.
Hearing the same invitation, "Let's play together tomorrow", which was repeated every day, Morofushi Sora'aki would appear at the same place without fail every day.
On this day, Hagiwara Kenji said goodbye with a smile again and rushed home before dark.
Hagiwara Chihaya, sitting on the sofa at home, glanced at him and said, "You seem to be coming home really late lately, second-year graduate student."
Hagiwara Kenji obediently replied, "Because I made new friends!"
"That brat from the Matsuda family next door?" Hagiwara Chihaya shifted her legs as she sat on the sofa. "You seem to like him quite a bit."
"It's not just Jinpei-chan, there's also Sora'aki-chan!" Hagiwara Kenji happily introduced to his older sister, "His name is Morofushi Sora'aki, he's a very cute kid—"
"Aren't you a kid yourself?" Hagiwara Chihaya, who is only two years older than her younger brother and is currently in middle school, remarked, tilting her head in confusion: "But are there any families with the surname Morofushi around here?"
Hagiwara Chihaya casually asked her mother, who was passing by, "Mom, are there any families with the surname Morofushi around here?"
Mother Hagiwara replied, "Hmm? I don't remember. What's wrong?"
Hagiwara Kenji's backpack fell to the ground.
Having received an answer, Hagiwara Chihaya turned around at the sound and looked at her younger brother, asking with surprise and concern, "Kenji? Why is your face so pale! Are you feeling unwell?!"