Spin-off: Four Demonly Kings
Kaguya was not always open about his gaming hobby.
First half is a flashback to Kaguya's high school years, second half takes place shortly after Of Supermodels…
"Ey, Hazama."
The voice of sixteen-year-old Kaguya's classmate stopped him in his tracks when he was about to set off for home. Smartphone in hand, the classmate showed Kaguya the flashy interface of a fantasy adventure role-playing game. "I was thinking if you wanna try this game. Looks great, doesn't it? You see, our guild needs just one more member to move up to third rank."
Kaguya looked at the screen for a moment, then answered, "It looks nice, but… video games aren't really for me."
At this, the classmate laughed. "I knew you'd say that. What else do I expect from the tea ceremony club president? Well, I'll be on my way now. See ya tomorrow."
Unbeknownst to the classmate, the reality was quite different from Kaguya's words. He had actually played the game once, then stopped as it was not to his taste. The little lie he told however was not out of fear of letting the classmate know his opinion on the game.
It was to prevent word from getting out that he played video games at all.
As president of the school's tea ceremony club, Kaguya was open about much of his interests: tea ceremony, poetry, traditional dress, beauty care. There was an image he knowingly cultivated: a traditional-type bishōnen, a yamato nadeshiko, a rich princely man only enjoying high-class interests. He didn't dare imagine someone finding out he liked something as "plebeian" as video games, or worse yet, thinking him an otaku.
His life would never be the same two years later, when his family took in a girl who also played games.
Among the people spending pleasant time in the Headquarters' Lounge, sat a group of four Japanese agents plus two minis on beanbags. Smartphones all oriented horizontally in their hands, the agents engaged in lively conversation full of canon-specific terminology.
"I swear, purple-note rhythmic levels are the worst, especially the ones in book 5," Inasuke whined. "Forget getting a double-S rank on them; they're borderline unwinnable. Look at those slider notes! Why does the arc starring my hero have to be the only one I can't complete its rhythmic levels?"
"Pfft, noob," Urato sneered. "Loadsa stuff is more difficult, n' ya get stuck on rhythmic levels? Brah, I completed all da rhythmic levels up tah dis point, main story n' event. Easiest thing ever. N' before ya ask, no, I ain't teachin' ya."
Inasuke turned to Momoka with pleading eyes, at which point she said, "Sorry Inasuke-kun, I'm really bad at purple-note levels too. Maybe Kaguya-sama can help?"
Reluctantly, Inasuke looked at his other sempai. Kaguya responded thus, "Actually, I can't help Inasuke-kun either. The first games I ever played were rhythm games, and I personally find music-based games to be the most stressful genre I've ever played, and I've done Identity V. Twisted Wonderland rhythmic levels are much easier than typical rhythm games, but still not that easy. You haven't fully completed book 5 rhythmic quests, but I'm even worse: I haven't touched them at all since finishing the arc." He tilted his phone to show his friends his abysmal progress: he only scored 14/100. "I won't be getting a lot of gems and R perfumes, but being stressed over a game is bad for your skin, you know?"
Momoka giggled. Kaguya couldn't have felt happier; he never before expected he would be able to have such delightful conversations.
