Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Alcohol and Stories

Every single gaming console in the room represented a part of the Liu Yuxi of old, when she was vibrant and youthful.

Liu Yuxi was really good at playing these ‘ancient” games, the earliest, analogous arcade machines, the ones that required tokens to play with. She was extremely skilled at “King of Fighters 97”, and she could also clear the entire “Super Mario” game with just a single life in the old “Nintendo Family Computer” console.

She had proclaimed herself the King of these “ancient games”. Of course, she had the skills to prove that she was worthy of the title. Zhao Youyue had only heard of these ancient games but she never actually played them before...

Computers were already commonplace when Zhao Youyue was born. Even now, with the entirety of China being in the era of information technology, a smartphone can be used as a computer too. Flash games are now all over the place, and had completely overthrown the classics, big budget games which were made exclusively for gaming consoles. Any PC single-player game that takes up less than 50 or 60 gigabytes would only be shrugged off.

Liu Yuxi still had the passion for games, but she could no longer taste the thrill compared to back then.

She enjoyed hours on the old “Nintendo Family Computer” games with Wang Hua back then, and they would play together if it was a 2-player game. Wang Hua would sit beside and watch her play if she was playing a single player game. Whenever Liu Yuxi showed off her magnificent gaming skills, Wang Hua would be thrilled.

Of course, Liu Yuxi was happy too.

Liu Yuxi had hoped that Wang Hua would always remain by her side watching her playing video games. If only things had stayed that way, she would be in paradise.

Even though Liu Yuxi still keeps in contact with Wang Hua, but it was never the same as before. Just like how she plays games now, she could no longer feel the excitement when she had to sneak out to the arcade center just to play games, back then.

Time is always ticking, and nobody can ever escape the flow of time. As time passes, people change.

Time would slowly change everything and take away everything.

At this moment, Liu Yuxi realized that Zhao Youyue was like the young Wang Hua, and she also felt as if she had traveled back through time, becoming young again.

They played every single game on her various consoles, from the oldest to the latest...

Liu Yuxi, who was once a king in gaming, found herself getting completely overwhelmed by Zhao Youyue who had summoned the power of a certain something from “The Strongest King”!

Liu Yuxi could not even beat Zhao Youyue at “King of Fighters 97”, the game Liu Yuxi was most skilled at. Zhao Youyue had belted out an endless string of abusive words as she pummeled Liu Yuxi, leaving the latter sheepish and reflecting over her past behavior. She had treated Zhao Youyue poorly earlier, and now Zhao Youyue was venting her stress out through the games!

Well, it could not be helped. Although Zhao Youyue had never played all these ancient games before, with the help of “Yu Shengfan card”, her gaming talents were now at the peak of human limits. This ability allowed her to familiarize herself with any game in a short time!

Even though Liu Yuxi was good at playing games, she was not at the professional level. She could ravage an average person in “King of Fighters 97” because this was the game that she was really good at.

Zhao Youyue was a professional grade player, there was no way that she would lose in a game, not even in “King of Fighters 97”. The way Zhao Youyue used the character “Iori Yagami” was really mindblowing!

Beating up three characters with one character was nothing for Zhao Youyue!

Liu Yuxi refrained Zhao Youyue from using “Iori Yagami”, or else she would not have any chance of fighting at all!

Still, she got beaten up pretty badly...

Zhao Youyue would never allow Liu Yuxi to beat her, that was the least respect she could give to Yu Shengfan. Yu Shengfan would never lose to anyone in any game.

Luckily, Liu Yuxi had never read the novel “The Strongest King”, or else she would have realized that Zhao Youyue had already transformed into “Unpleasant Rain” while playing games with her unique venomous tongue!

Both of them had a great time together...

Liu Yuxi did not care about winning in video games, she would still be happy even if she loses, because there is somebody to play with, just like old times. The nostalgia would just wash over her.

As Zhao Youyue was about to leave, Liu Yuxi blurted out, “Xiao Zhao! I misjudged you earlier. I thought that you were just a normal person, you hid that side of yours very well. I certainly did not expect you to be better than your mom, you definitely deserve to be her daughter...”

Zhao Youyue had reverted to her normal self at that moment. She waved the compliment off and sheepishly replied, “Teacher Liu, I might have said something unpleasant earlier, but that’s just how I will act when playing games, please forgive me!”

Liu Yuxi let out a heartful laugh and took a chug from her beer. Suddenly, she gave Zhao Youyue a heartful slap on the shoulder, “A girl who knows how to play games is usually a good girl! I absolutely acknowledge that! From now on, you will be my little sister, we will play games together after our lessons! With a skillful player like me, have no worries! You will have your share of fun!”

Zhao Youyue was thrown off by Liu Yuxi’s uncharacteristic behavior, whatever happened to that serene, untouchable music goddess image earlier, is this actually her true self?

Oh right... She had ingested so much alcohol without restraint, just like Zhao Youyue’s mouth who completely goes unhinged when playing games. Liu Yuxi must have sneaked in some sips of alcohol as they mashed buttons against each other earlier on.

“Little sister? You’re like my mom’s sister aren’t you, classmates who are fond of each other... Isn’t that inappropriate, Teacher Liu?” Zhao Youyue expressed the thought that any normal person would have in the face of such a proposal.

The drunken Liu Yuxi was far from the parameters of a normal person at the moment. Even though she could hold her alcohol rather well, she had emptied can after can as the game reached a feverish pitch! She waved her hand, “I’m breaking off my relationship with her! I’m not gonna be friends with some old lady! From now on, we shall be sisters because I’m still young! Quick, call me big sis!”

Zhao Youyue shivered, this friend of old mama was nothing like any normal woman in this three dimensional world. She knew how to coax a person, so she relented and called Liu Yuxi “big sis” as sweetly as she could.

Liu Yuxi was satisfied by the reply, even mentioning that she would call Wang Hua to cut ties, because she felt that Wang Hua was no longer a match for her. Only a supreme gamer like Zhao Youyue had the rights of knowing her personally... Err, no... She and Zhao Youyue had a perfect synergy in music, Zhao Youyue would be her protege, and she would cultivate Zhao Youyue into the world’s best violinist!

Zhao Youyue awkwardly left the house of that drunkard, guilt gnawing at her conscience, feeling that she had betrayed her old mama. She hoped that her old mama would forgive her for “accidentally” becoming sisters with Liu Yuxi...

Ah, Zhao Youyue was now curious to know the history between her old mama and Teacher Liu. Teacher Liu had her beer, so old mama definitely had her stories.