kscans

Chapter 149 - My Ideal in Hand

"That was delicious."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it."

Tonight's dinner was an absolutely amazing spread. The main dish was cold shabu-shabu, with grilled fish cakes topped with mayo and cheese, a salad, and miso soup. Am I always this hyped up, you ask? Yeah, well, I guess I am. And it's all thanks to Saku-chan being such a great cook. You know, this diet is actually starting to make me a little worried. I keep wondering if I'll ever be able to go back to my old lifestyle once Saku-chan graduates high school.

Well, that's still a ways off.

Putting off troublesome things until later is a bad habit of mine. The fact that I know this but can't fix it really proves what a hopeless old man I am. Anyway, that's beside the point. Dinner's over, so it's time to read that thing.

"Hmm? That's unusual, seeing you read something other than manga."

Saku-chan's eyes went wide as she watched me take out a book with a cover on it. I was a little shocked that a kid was implicitly telling me I never read anything but manga, but I couldn't deny it.

"Yeah, just for a bit."

"Is it work-related?"

"Nah. This is for my private life."

I took off the book cover and showed her the title.

"What's a TRPG? Hmm... a TRPG?"

Just as Domoto-kun wanted, I have no intention of learning the specifics of the TRPG we're going to play, but I figured I should at least know about the genre itself. I got interested as we were talking, so I stopped by a bookstore on my way home and bought what looked like a decent introductory guide. I could have just looked it up online, but I thought a little reading now and then would be nice.

"Actually, one of my subordinates invited me to play with him sometime."

I gave her a brief explanation of the situation, including the fact that I'd be staying over on Saturday. Saku-chan exhaled, sounding impressed.

"Wow... I know they're not quite celebrities, but video streamers have always felt like people from a distant world to me."

"Yeah, I guess so. It might be pretty rare to have one so close. By the way Saku-chan, do you know what a TRPG is?"

"More or less. We played a few times as part of group work at my old school."

"You played TRPGs in class?!"

Kids these days are amazing. Wait, for what purpose?

"I actually thought you'd know more about them, Hero Uncle. You know, they say companies use them for employee training and for new hires, right?"

"Ah... I feel like I remember something like that being trendy at one point?"

"Your company doesn't do that?"

"Nope. We just have boring old training sessions."

During the general training, they hammer in the absolute minimum knowledge you need to do your job, and from there it's up to each department. My sales department doesn't do anything special either. The closest thing would be my cabaret club lessons, but that's something I do on my own. It has nothing to do with the company.

"I see. So they do things like that in schools now."

"Yep. And apparently, it's also used as a part of therapy for children with ASD."

ASD... that's autism spectrum disorder, if I remember correctly. I see. That might actually be a valid approach. You communicate indirectly through a character, right? Having that buffer of the character not being you might make it easier to speak up.

"You know a lot of things, Saku-chan."

"Now you sound like a grandmother..."

I thought so too, even as I said it. Like a grandmother talking to her grandchild.

"Hey, I'm interested too. Is it okay if I read it with you?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Then excuse me."

Saku-chan sat down next to me, and I opened the book so she could see.

"...This is very easy to read. The kind of writing that just flows right in. The explanations are easy to understand, too."

"I just picked one that looked approachable based on the title, but I guess it was the right choice."

I didn't recognize the author's name, but I could tell they were the type who would be highly valued. When you pick up a beginner's guide, if the book itself is bad, you're more likely to just give up. People who pick up these books are already interested, so the key is how you maintain and fuel that interest. In that respect, this author is excellent. They're good at proselytizing. The writing isn't stuffy, mixing in humor with polite and concise explanations that even a novice can understand, making you want to turn the page faster.

"This is nice. I appreciate these little tidbits about the early days that they don't teach you in school."

"It's to keep the reader from getting bored. It kind of reminds me of Mr. Morishita."

"Mr. Morishita?"

"He was one of my teachers in high school. He was a master at spotting the exact moment his students' concentration was about to break."

He would tell a story to give us a breather, and once our focus was back, he'd return to the main lesson.

"I'm sure you've more or less figured it out, but I was the type who kind of slacked off on my studies."

"Yeah. I mean, I figured."

"But I never scored below a ninety in world history, which was the class Mr. Morishita taught."

Well, it wasn't just me. Almost every student who took world history was the same. I think it was less that the tests were easy and more that the teacher made sure the knowledge really stuck with us.

"Wow, he sounds like a great teacher."

"He really was."

We continued reading for a while, chatting as we went. After we finished the section on the basic concepts, the book moved on to explaining actual TRPGs on the market. The author apparently chose their personal favorites, but... looking at the table of contents, there are quite a few.

"From classic sword and sorcery fantasy to cyberpunk... it's a wide range. Which one catches your eye, Hero Uncle?"

"I'd have to go with the classic sword and sorcery fantasy. What about you, Saku-chan?"

"The one based on the Cthulhu Mythos seems interesting."

"I didn't know you were into that sort of thing."

"Oh, no, it's not that. What I like is how the player characters aren't special."

It seemed the part that resonated with her was how ordinary, powerless humans could confront such a mighty existence.

"Still... hmm."

"What is it?"

"I was just thinking it would be interesting to make a game with occult technology."

I could probably find one already if I looked around Ura-Akiba, but I think mine would be higher quality.

"Recreate it with the occult?"

"Yeah. The book mentioned using figures to move your character around to enhance the atmosphere, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"So, like this."

I created a doll of a fantasy-style adventurer, exactly as I pictured it in my mind. When I placed it on the table, it began to swing its sword as if it were alive.

"That's not all. I could even create a miniature world."

I could build it based on the world of the TRPG we were playing and have these miniatures adventure through it.

"That... sounds really fun!"

"Right!?"

And what's more. With this format, I might even be able to heal the scars of the Elf Shock. Inside a TRPG, I can create as many ideal elves as I want. They'd just be creations, but if I could make them realistic enough, then maybe...

"If you ever do it, make sure to invite me too!"

"You bet I will!"

First things first, this Saturday. I'll start by playing an actual TRPG and getting a feel for it.