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“We need to talk.”
The last thing Sebastian wanted to do was talking, particularly with a younger half-brother on his father ’s side who hated his guts even more than the younger half-sister on his mother’s side. There was the nicety of it all, of dealing with his younger half-siblings whenever he was at home with one of his parents, not that he ever considered either of the places home. He removed his headphones, feeling tired from an all-night game session. “What?”
“About your gaming,” Yuichiro muttered, dressed in the school uniform for the school they were supposed to both be attending, only for Sebastian to quit going as it simply became too much.
“I don’t want to talk about my gaming habits,” Sebastian said. “And dad’s told you not to bring it up.”
“You mean the fact you’d rather stay at home playing video games rather than attending school?” his brother said, letting out a sigh. “And for your information, he told mom not to bring it up.”
“She’s not my mom,” Sebastian said, his face twisting in frustration that Yuichiro wouldn’t leave him alone. “I get the homework packets the teachers send home finished, and I attend the scheduled tests. I’m fine, and so they’re fine with it. Dad and the school.”
“You’re not fine.”
Sebastian ’s hands clenched his game controller, his ears picking up on Yuichiro stepping into the room, coming closer. “I didn’t say you could come in here, Yuichiro.”
“And I said we need to talk.”
“And I don’t want to,” Sebastian said, turning his head to glare at his brother, looking forward to when he could go on break and be holed up in the basement at his mom’s place, where he was less likely to be bothered, though not entirely. He tensed, not liking Abigail’s terrible habit of barging in despite the countless number of times he’d asked her not to. Even Maru knew better or at least avoided barging in on him.
“Please. You don’t want me to get dad involved, and even if we talk, I still might have to,” Yuichiro said.
Sebastian glared. “You’re not going to guilt-trip me. I haven’t done anything wrong, so why…”
“I’m a little concerned you have,” Yuichiro said, moving closer. Sebastian flinched, tensing up.
“Could you please stay out of my personal space? And what the hell did I do wrong?”
“There’s a girl at school,” his brother said.
Which, of course, made no sense at all. “And? I don’t socialize with anybody from school?”
“Are you sure? Are you sure you don’t know someone from school from one of those games you play?” Yuichiro said.
“I’m sure I don’t,” Sebastian responded. He set his controller down, turning to look at his younger brother. “Look. I’m not following what you’re getting at. I don’t do things like giving out my personal information. It’s one of the major things you don’t do.” Yet there, his younger brother was worrying his lip, looking at him. “Why don’t you believe me?”
“Because there’s definitely a girl at school who knows where we live.”
“Doesn’t every girl at school know where you live?” Sebastian asked. “I mean, I’m not blind to the fact you’re insanely popular.”
“This girl thinks I’m you, idiot.”
“Yuichiro, I’m not following. Why would some girl think you’re me? Most of the kids in my year would rather forget I exist, let alone that you and I are related.”
“Nii-san, please. Listen to me,” his brother said.
“Don’t nii-san me. Not when we both know you hate me.”
“You have a stalker! Alright! And it’s tied to your stupid gaming! But instead of stalking you at school, she’s been stalking me because she thinks I’m you, and she keeps saying she’s your wife! And practically the entire school except her knows it’s you she’s interested in and not me!”
“So, I’ve yet again become an embarrassment to you?” Sebastian shook his head. “This is what it’s about? That I’ve inconvenienced…”
“Idiot! What do you not understand about someone stalking you? That it’s for real?”
“I told you. I don’t give out that kind of information. So there’s no way that…” Sebastian paused, thinking carefully. “Wait. Did you say she keeps saying she’s my wife?”
“Then you do know something about this?”
“Look. If you think I did this as some sort of prank…”
“This isn’t about me! Well, it is as if I’ve somehow managed to become involved in this delusion of hers as well, but even I know you wouldn’t sick some freaky chick like her on me. But you really should be more concerned that this Tamaki Ako has a thing for you.”
“Wait. Her name really is Ako?”
“Seiji, please.”
“Sebastian,” he corrected. “That’s what they called me. Not what the family insists I be called.”
“Please take this seriously, nii-sama,” Yuichiro said. “What do you mean by that?”
“By her name really being Ako?”
“Yes?”
“That’s the name she’s been going by, but when I see it show up on a character wanting to be friends, I know to block them.” Sebastian watched his brother relax slightly.
“So you’ve been blocking her?”
“Well, yes. She’s been stalking me from game to game online.”
“And how did this start?”
“How did it—what do you mean?”
“When did you first come in contact with her? How did you come in contact with her?”
Sebastian stared.
“Come on. This is important.”
“She was new to the game and struggling, so I helped her out. And then we partied up. But then she started being weird.”
“Weird how?”
“Asking me to marry her in-game. Which, yeah. In that particular game, you get a buff if your characters marry, but that kind of thing just creeps me out. And she kept asking to the point she decided we were. It was around that time I’d gotten fed up with having to carry her when we partied up or us outright failing, because nothing I taught her stuck.”
“And?”
“And what else?”
“You said something about her following you to other games? How?”
“Well, I use the same name on all the games I play.”
“Is there anything about your user name that would give away who you are?”
“Yeah. I didn’t go and name my character Sebastian or Shinji, if that’s what you’re getting at. And I didn’t use any references to any of the places I live. I don’t chat about personal stuff either. Just stuff happening in the game.”
His brother frowned. “Nii-sama?”
“What? And don’t call me that. Just, it sounds like you’re trying to patronize me.”
“Because I am.”
“Why would you…”
“Because I have to tell dad what’s going on.”
“What? Why do you…”
“You’ve fucking gotten yourself a stalker! And you don’t even leave the house except to go and take the tests, or to get a new game you want! Or something like that!” Yuichiro tried smiling. “And I’m sorry that I’ve got to do this to you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“The fact you don’t understand why I have to scare me, nii-sama, honestly,” his brother said. “And I’m not—this is freaking me out.”
The end result was somewhat what Sebastian expected, a sit down with his father regarding his concerns regarding this Ako girl. He didn ’t expect for his father to decide he should finish school back in Stardew Valley, with the teachers communicating with him online. And as much as he wanted to go back, as if he felt more hated there than in the valley, it felt like he was losing out rather than winning.