"Don't worry about it!" Siegfried grinned and patted Shu. "So? Want to play a round right now?"
Shu fell silent.
How could he possibly have something like that here? The place next door definitely had a game console, but he didn't. He didn't even have a computer right now, and he didn't even know if the TV hanging in the living room worked.
He had never played games next door either. The only two game consoles he had ever touched were the one on the train and the one he had seen at the orphanage.
Now Siegfried was asking him to take out a game console. How was that possible?
Shu's heart was filled with difficulty. A faint sense of oppression was born in the depths of his heart, but what Shu ultimately showed was an awkward smile.
Refuse? Sorry, Shu couldn't do it...
Or rather, Shu couldn't refuse so frankly and forcefully. He needed a way to comfort the other party, a reason that the other party could understand, and he needed to try to express himself in a way that wouldn't be misunderstood...
In that instant, countless conversations and countless possible scenarios flashed through Shu's mind.
"Uh... the game console is on the train," Shu said cautiously, his chosen answer in a moment of quick thinking. "I haven't actually lived here for long..."
After speaking, afraid that Siegfried wouldn't believe him, he added an explanation: "You see, my place here isn't really decorated at all."
Siegfried really did look around seriously in front of Shu, then scratched his head at Shu in embarrassment.
"Alright, I'll find a way to get a set of equipment and bring it to you next time I come!" Siegfried leaned closer to Shu. "Don't worry, I can definitely get you a set of the latest model. I've hoarded a lot of game consoles in Future City!"
Nodding with a sheepish smile, Shu slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed that this topic had been "muddled through"...
"By the way, which character do you like to use the most?"
"Hiss~"
Shu was speechless, just staring at Siegfried, trying his best to suck back the breath he had just let out with the smallest possible movement.
No... are you really chasing me to my death?!
"Haha... it should be... Homu Warrior?" Shu said with a stiff expression, but saw a momentary look of confusion on Siegfried's face.
Shu's heart skipped a beat.
"Homu Warrior?" Siegfried closed his eyes and frowned, beginning to think seriously.
At the same time, Shu's brain once again roared with overload.
Did I say something wrong? Did I remember it wrong? Or did I express it wrong?
Could it be that this character doesn't actually exist in the game? Or are the two of us not actually talking about the same game? Or is it actually Siegfried who remembered it wrong?
But what if I really did remember it wrong or said something wrong? Then would Siegfried think I'm some kind of "cloud gamer"? Would he think I'm actually a very frivolous person?
Would he think I'm the kind of person who pretends to know something just to squeeze into this circle?
Will he hate me? Will he expose me on the spot? And how am I supposed to prove myself?
Quickly, think about what I was playing at that time, what character I was playing... and think about what Siegfried will do next, and how I should respond...
"Oh! You mean Homu Brave, right!" Siegfried's reaction time was actually only about a second. Shu's eyes lit up. This sentence was also within Shu's various predictions.
And just as Shu was about to say the words he had prepared, Siegfried had already seamlessly connected to his previous sentence.
"I like Homu Brave too! Hey, let me tell you, in this game, the character of Homu Brave is definitely not what others say is a beginner character..."
The words were stuck in his throat. The preset reactions, words, expressions, and so on were instantly stuffed back into his brain, but they had gone through a complete run in Shu's mind.
And after this momentary distraction and daze, Shu realized that Siegfried was currently in the middle of a long speech.
So Shu quickly composed himself and fought a battle of eight hundred rounds with his regrets, relief, doubts, and other miscellaneous thoughts that had arisen because he hadn't spoken. He tried his best to listen to what Siegfried was saying, so as not to fall behind the rhythm again.
It was just that those emotions were originally trivial. The more he cared, the stronger they became. They were not eliminated, but had taken on another form and taken root in another place.
Breathing seemed to have become more difficult.
Fortunately, it was now Siegfried's turn to speak, and the topic did not touch on the aspects that Shu wanted to discuss and share. He was just listening, and hoping that Siegfried could happen to stop at an area he was good at.
This way, even if the right to speak was handed over to him next, he wouldn't let Siegfried fall into an awkward silence, and he wouldn't have to rack his brains to think of what to say.
But that was too difficult... from an objective and rational point of view, Shu's contact with this world was still too little. The content that Siegfried was discussing was still various content from "before the Great Honkai" that Shu had almost never come into contact with.
From the game content to the corresponding competitions for this game, to the e-sports players that Shu didn't know at all, to the operations that Shu had never even heard of, and the jargon that would pop up from time to time and slap him in the face...
If only he just had to listen...
But people always needed to react.
Shu listened seriously and with difficulty to the content he didn't know at all, like a poor student in a serious class. While trying to remember every word Siegfried said, he also had to analyze Siegfried's tone and pauses.
And then, he would interject with the reactions that Siegfried might have hoped for.
When Siegfried raised his voice: "That guy actually did *** back then!"
"Huh? Really?!"
When Siegfried excitedly asked a rhetorical question: "You tell me, isn't this kind of playstyle disgusting!"
"Tsk... what were these people thinking?"
When Siegfried asked a question with a troubled expression: "Sigh, isn't the skill value design of this thing inherently flawed?"
"Yeah! Could a person really have designed this?!"
"Hmm," "yes," "oh"... these were the jobs of the straight man in a comedy duo.
But reality was not a comedy duo. The straight man in reality was even harder to play. People needed stronger feedback, a sense of recognition, and a sense of admiration.
Pride was the most beloved emotion, and the Kaslanas were no exception.
Shu was a very suitable straight man. He had realized this a long time ago. Almost everyone could feel the comfort of a regular conversation with Shu.
He could understand, he could empathize, and it was hard for him to say anything wrong.
Yes... it was hard to say the wrong thing...
It was just hard.
Actually...
Saying the right thing was even harder.