User blog:Drkness231/Mamono One-Shots Aftermath Chapter 3.5: Omake 1

A/N: Here we go, the next one-shot! Just kidding, everyone. This one-shot actually doesn't have Mamono present, so if you were looking for more of my usual stuff, you'll have to look somewhere else. That being said, if you read my previous author's notes, then you know what I'm doing with this chapter. Since many readers (and myself) have requested it, I decided to take a change in pace and make a little omake about what my life is like outside of making one-shots. I feel like I can be quite distant to all of you, so I hope that this little scenario that I put together. Note: any characters in this omake other than myself are purely fictional and thus never existed. Now that the disclaimer's out of the way, it's show time!

---InMyRoom---

-Bang-

The door slams shut as I enter the room. My heart is pounding while I look around in the darkness, relying on the flashlight in my hand to illuminate (or not) the evil presence that is said to be lurking here. I hear its deep otherworldly breathing echoing in my ears, forcing my heartbeat to compete in drowning it out. My eyes move frantically about the room, searching desperately for some way to quell my fears and flush out the monster. I start to hyperventilate with terror and dread as certain death is slinking ever-closer to me without pause. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up instantly as my senses scream at me to turn around. I quietly obey...losing all sense of hearing and vocal sounds known to me for a passing moment. My heart is ripped from its home in my chest as my vision suddenly sharpens while I am face-to-face with the horrid abomination.

“AAAHHH!!!” I scream with all the strength I have left.

“Mr. Kanto!? Mr. Kanto, calm down! It's only a game!” A far-off voice shouts at me as I suddenly feel my whole world shaking.

“H-Huh?”

[YOU DIED...], my computer screen reads.

“Mr. Kanto, why did you start playing horror games if you knew we were going to be here soon?” The reporter asks.

“Well, it's a Saturday night, so I figured that a good scare was in order. I kinda forgot about this whole thing, to be honest.”

“Normally, this would be sufficient cause for anger. However, we made the wise decision to interview your assistant beforehand, so we know all about your forgetfulness.”

“Whatever. What'd you guys want anyway?” I uncap my bottle of water and take a sip.

“We're here to interview you, Mr. Kanto. The public is very interested in learning about who you are as a person.”

“I'm pretty sure you can just go get copies of both seasons of 'The Monster Girls One-Shot Collection' to find that out.”

“No, we meant that we want to know who you are behind your Director persona.”

“Ohh...okay. First thing to know about me: I don't like meeting expectations.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Please explain.” The reporter writes on his notepad as the camera zooms in on me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Hold up one sec.” I stand up and walk over to my desk fan.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">-Click 'Hi' Mode-

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Aahhh...much better. So yeah, I really don't like meeting expectations. Growing up with them'll do that to ya. I always used to try so hard to be the best at everything I do, but once I dropped out of college after freshman year, I just said 'fuck it'.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Were you just not studious enough, or...?” The reporter ducks behind his pad again.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">-Slap-

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">The reporter's cheek glows brightly with my hand-mark imprinted deeply against it.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“I love how people assume that first just because I'm Asian. I was gonna slap someone for fun at some point, so consider yourself lucky. To answer your question, I just hate studying. Never could get into staring at a dry-ass textbook for hours on end. I preferred more hands-on learning and free-flowing knowledge.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“But isn't college an essential asset in today's society?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Whoever made up that trend is a fuckin' dumbass. Sure, a degree can get you into most high-paying jobs, but it's not 'degree or die' just yet. There's a wide range of jobs out there that one can still live comfortably from. I just don't see the point in getting a 'fancified certificate' when actual skills are what matter in the working world.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“I see. Is that why you are working as a soldier now?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Heh, funny story about that. I'm one of those guys who signed up on a whim, all because my life back home was not exciting enough; that's the honest truth for me. I don't really feel any particular loyalty to my country with how absolutely fucked it is right now. The only other motivation I have for being a trained war-fighter is my desire to help people.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Aren't soldiers supposed to do that anyway?” The reporter looks at me with a subtle doubt in his eyes.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Not entirely true, man. We're supposed to follow orders. Helping people comes second. What I really mean is that I wanted to make a difference in the world, and I figured that being a soldier could help me do that.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Do you regret choosing your profession?” The reported leans in for my response.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Yep, quite a bit. It's funny that I chose this and yet I really don't like overbearing authority figures. I've been raised to be perfectly obedient ever since I was a kid, so I figured that I'd fit in well here. I mean, on more than several occasions in my life, I've weighed my chances at being a steward in a wealthy household. It's a really weird dynamic that I have going on, but that's just part of figuring out who I am...”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">The reporter writes a few more notes on his pad, flipping to a blank page once he seems to run out of room.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“So, are you more submissive or dominant when it comes to your presence around others?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Dominant; don't ask any more than that.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Okay...then does that mean...wait, what are you doing now?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Can't you see? I'm playing a visual novel. It's been a while since I last played one, so I figured that now was a good time.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“...Don't you have a girlfriend or something? It doesn't seem to be difficult for you to just meet a nice girl on a day out in town.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Heheheh...you'd think so, but I'm more than aware of all the problems that come with dating. Besides, I'm a lot more focused on what I'm currently doing than just trying to have sex every weekend.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“I see, that's understandable I suppose. Do you really do anything else on your weekends than play video games and read manga?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“No, not really. I mean, occasionally I'll go out for a night of partying with my buddies, but for the most part I usually stay cooped up in my room. Hell, it's even rare for me to leave my bed on the weekends.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“A majority of people would disagree with your lazy lifestyle, but what are your thoughts on it?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“I agree that being lazy as I am will cause some problems, but it keeps me relaxed and deep-thinking whenever I need to address any issues that I think of.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Issues? Like what?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Y'know, the typical good-or-evil deal, where I stand in the world, the purpose of Humanity's existence...stuff like that.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Hmm...okay.”, the reporter makes some more notes with a dark look on his face, “How did you get into creating one-shots in the first place?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">I pause the game for a second to put on some music from my computer. Then I plug in my headphones, making sure the volume is just soft enough for me to hear what's going on around me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Well...that's a bit of an old story. You see, I originally began my writing with short stories that I posted on FictionPress. They all got pretty good reviews in general, but I would always hit a wall and never be able to finish any of them. So, after I beat Monster Girl Quest for the first time and getting inspired, I decided to just make a short 5-minute story just to see what kind of reactions it would get; turns out that it was a big hit with the MGE Wiki users. After the first one-shot, people just kept asking me to make more, so I did until we arrived where we are now.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">The reporter scribbles the notes down in a hurry, trying to record all of the details on my beginnings at once. He has not stop smiling since he first started this interview, but now it seems that he is genuinely impressed. It doesn't really have much to do with me, so I just shrug and focus my attention to the visual novel that I'm playing. A few minutes pass by as the room is filled with the occasional clicking of my wireless mouse.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“...Alright, I think that's enough for today. We have more than enough material to make a suitable story for the newspaper. Thank you very much for your time, sir, it's an honor to hear such personal thoughts from you.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“Ah, it's no big deal. I've been wanting to tell my readers about myself ever since I started the second one-shot collection, so you guys were a big help with that!”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">“The same can be said of you, Mr. Kanto.”, the reporter says with a nod before standing from his seat and moving to the door, “We'll stop by at a later date for another interview, sir. Thanks again for your time.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">As the reporter and his camera leave the room, I wave them good-bye. After they are completely gone, I turn my attention back to my laptop where I save my visual novel progress and access my e-mails which are unfortunately devoid of any important items.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">---OmakeEnd---

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom: 0in; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%">A/N: So, there you have it: a little insight on what I usually do in my free time. You'd all be surprised how often I'm just lying around reading manga or watching Youtube videos on my phone. Oh, and I know what you're all thinking, but no. I never had someone come into my room and interview me; that'd be just plain creepy. I also don't like playing horror games since I'm easily startled, but boy do I enjoy watching let's plays! Anyways, I hope this little mixer satisfied your curiosity on the man behind the one-shots and the insane mind that you've all come to know and love! I'll be getting right back to the usual schedule now, so...checking the list here...the next species we'll take a look at is Gnome! Hope you all are ready for some comedy, because I'm planning quite a bit of trouble for the poor sap taking the male lead. Thanks for being with me for the first omake in the series, and I hope you all enjoy yourselves!