Rise of the Gamer [Hiatus]

Chapter 5

'Oh, she added some sort of pouch and string to the wooden farming instrument. Qipao Sister seems to have slung the wooden farming instrument over her shoulder so that it is now resting on her back. Ah, I get it. It's so that Qipao Sister doesn't need to carry it with her hands! Kaa-san is so smart. I wonder where they're going? Perhaps they are going to harvest something valuable from an affiliated secret hideaway farm somewhere far away. Wait, are we all going? Is that why there are so many horse-powered vehicle things? Yay! Road trip!'

Wondering what was so valuable that it needed to be farmed off-site, I noticed dad approaching our little group. Walking briskly towards us, dad then started hugging Kaa-san, then my sisters one by one (oddly skipping Qipao Sister), then my grandmothers and finally heading towards OJii-san and I.

"#### ### ###### #### ##### #### ####### ###### #### Genji-kun #### ##### ###### #### ##### ####### ##### ###### Kaa-san ##### #### ###### ###### #### ### #### ### Ojii-san #### ####### ##### ######", said dad while looking at me, giving Ojii-san a one-handed hug before planting a quick peck on my forehead.

'No idea what he just said, but he's smiling so it must be something good! Are we starting the road trip now? Road trip! Road trip!'

Smiling while baby talking to dad seemed to make his smile wider. Qipao Sister was next on the hugging circuit. Kaa-san seemed to hug her the longest. Kiyoko appeared to be as excited as she always was. Rumi had a neutral expression on her face. Oh look, she has her map in hand, what a surprise. Of my three other sisters, two seemed to be wearing matching outfits. All three appeared to have wistful smiles, as if they were sad from being excluded from something yet happy for some reason.

'What is up with all this hugging? What's going on? Oh look, they're loading lots of rolled-up rugs onto the caravans now. All the rugs appear to be white in color. Who buys white rugs? They'll stain so fast, it's not even funny.'

My deliberations on the best methods of removing rug stains were interrupted by the impending arrival of four people wearing sleeveless jackets with multiple pouches. Their aforementioned arrival was only noticed by me due to the loud murmurings of the crowd and all the pointing towards them in the distance. Everyone seemed impressed or starstruck or something. Well, almost everyone, as Rumi looked decidedly unimpressed. They were probably intruding on her map time.

'Were these people seriously running Naruto-style? Does that even make you go any faster? Oh look, they even have the headbands. What were those things called again? Forehead-bands? Don't all headbands involve the forehead? Ah crap, the last time I watched Naruto was more than a decade ago, I don't remember what the headbands are called. Are these guys cosplayers?'

Qipao Sister then came up to Ojii-san for what I'm assuming was a hug. As she leaned in for the hug, that was when I finally got to see the wooden farming instrument on her back from up close. It was not a wooden farming instrument. I mean yes, it was definitely made of wood. But it was wood fashioned into the shape of a sword, which was currently in a half sheath with most of the blade portion exposed. It even had a proper grip with the black crisscross patterns below the black colored guard.

"That's a sword! A sword made out of wood. Why do you have a sword made out of wood?" I asked Qipao Sister, who then started giggling at my baby talk and giving me a quick peck on my left cheek. "##### #### ###### ### ##### Genji-kun #### #####", she said to me before turning around and walking towards dad who was currently speaking to the four cosplayers.