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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ................................................................................ 2
1: First Christmas .............................................................................. 16
2: A nameless flower ......................................................................... 49
3: The girlfriend of the guy I like ....................................................... 85
4: Lies and morning glow ................................................................ 109
5: All together now ......................................................................... 134
6: An angel in the kotatsu ............................................................... 154
Afterword ....................................................................................... 171
Bonus Track: The virtual reality adventure of Tomozaki the Warrior
........................................................................................................ 176
Thank you for buying this ebook, published by Yen On. ............. 230

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 Copyright

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Lv.8.5

YUKI YAKU
Cover art by Fly
Translation by Winifred Bird
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons,
living or dead, is coincidental.
JAKU CHARA TOMOZAKI-KUN LV.8.5
by Yuki YAKU
© 2016 Yuki YAKU
Illustration by FLY
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published by SHOGAKUKAN.
English translation rights in the United States of America, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand arranged
with SHOGAKUKAN through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc.
English translation © 2022 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of
copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and
artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without
permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you
would like permission to use material from the book (other than for

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review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your
support of the author’s rights.
Yen On
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New York, NY 10001
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First Yen On Edition: September 2022
Edited by Yen On Editorial: Anna Powers
Designed by Yen Press Design: Wendy Chan
Yen On is an imprint of Yen Press, LLC.
The Yen On name and logo are trademarks of Yen Press, LLC.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that
are not owned by the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Yaku, Yuki, author. | Fly, 1963– illustrator. | Bird, Winifred,
translator.
Title: Bottom-tier character Tomozaki / Yuki Yaku ; illustration by Fly ;
translation by Winifred Bird.
Other titles: Jyakukyara Tomozaki-kun. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York : Yen On, 2019–

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Identifiers: LCCN 2019017466 | ISBN 9781975358259 (v. 1 : pbk.) |
ISBN 9781975384586 (v. 2 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975384593 (v. 3 : pbk.)
| ISBN 9781975384609 (v. 4 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975384616 (v. 5 :
pbk.) | ISBN 9781975384623 (v. 6 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975320386 (v.
6.5 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975333461 (v. 7 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975335502
(v. 8 : pbk.) | ISBN 9781975338404 (v. 8.5 : pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Video games—Fiction. | Video gamers—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PL877.5.A35 J9313 2019 | DDC 895.63/6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019017466
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-3840-4 (paperback)
978-1-9753-3925-8 (ebook)
E3-20220810-JV-NF-ORI

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Page | 13
 Common Honorifics

In order to preserve the authenticity of the Japanese

setting of this book, we have chosen to retain the
honorifics used in the original language to express the
relationships between characters.
No honorific: Indicates familiarity or closeness; if used without permission or reason, addressing someone in this manner would constitute an insult.

-san: The Japanese equivalent of Mr./Mrs./Miss. If a situation calls for politeness, this is the fail-safe honorific.

-kun: Used most often when referring to boys, this indicates affection or familiarity. Occasionally used by older men among their peers, but it may also be used
by anyone referring to a person of lower standing.

-chan: An affectionate honorific indicating familiarity used mostly in reference to girls; also used in reference to cute persons or animals of either gender.

-senpai: An honorific indicating respect for a senior member of an organization. Often used by younger students with their upperclassmen at school.

-sensei: An honorific indicating respect for a master of some field of study. Perhaps most commonly known as the form of address for teachers in school.

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1: First Christmas
It was the day after the Sekitomo High School festival, and just over
twenty kids from our class were gathered at an okonomiyaki
restaurant in Omiya.
“Ahem! Good evening, everybody! Thank you for joining me here
today!”
Izumi was standing in front of the group, giving a speech.
“Um, so the manga café and play organized by second-year Class
Two were both a stunning success. I feel very gratified by the
outcome…”
“Yuzu! Relax a little!” Kashiwazaki-san teased.
“Oh, um, okay?! Uh…”
Izumi was so nervous, she was talking like the principal or something.
She glanced around anxiously, stared at her left palm for a second,
nodded vigorously, then started talking again. Something was
definitely written on her hand.
“T-today we are celebrating with a combined school festival party
and Christmas party. Please enjoy yourselves…um…”
“Seriously, chill out!”
“Uh, um…”
After practicing her speech and/or writing it on her hand, her friend’s
heckling had thrown her off course.
“It’s cold out there, so please…um…”
“You can do this!”
“…Oh, I give up!!”

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Apparently out of desperation, she raised the glass she was holding
over her head.
“Uh, cheers!!”
“Cheers!” everyone responded, clinking their glasses of soda in
response to her rambling toast.
It was December 24—Christmas Eve—and I was there with everyone
else to celebrate our school festival success. The toast kicked off an
outburst of excited chatter as the party got going. We were seated
around a long table set with six hot plates for cooking the
okonomiyaki pancakes, with friends sitting together.
“Yeah! This is gonna be wild!”
Unfortunately, Takei was sitting to my right, and he seemed to be
shouting directly into my ear. I scowled, but this only caused him to
wrap his arm jovially around my shoulder.
“So, Farm Boy, you’re gonna let loose tonight, right?”
“Shut up, Takei.”
“You’re so mean!”
Since I don’t feel nervous around Takei anymore, I’m very honest
with him. I might have been a little rude just then—no, on second
thought, that approach was probably perfect for Takei.
Mizusawa and Nakamura were sitting across from us, with
Tachibana, Kyoya Hashiguchi, and other jocks on either side of them.
Daichi Matsumoto, who also belongs to that group, was to my left.
Scanning my surroundings, I realized I was the only one with an
obviously lower strength in the game of life, but I could crush them
at Atafami, at least. Call it a draw?
“Ah-ha-ha, you’re so harsh to Takei, Tomozaki,” Matsumoto said.
“Uh, oh, I am?” I sputtered, thrown off slightly by his directness.

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I wasn’t mentally prepared for it, but apparently the jock group was
starting to feel that I belonged here simply because I hung out with
Nakamura’s group. I wish they’d stop. I’m not ready for the friend-of-
a-friend-is-a-friend thing yet.
The kids gathered around the long table were roughly divided by
gender, and the border between girls and guys was nearby. That was
probably because of Nakamura’s stronghold. Hinami’s group—which
included her, Mimimi, Kashiwazaki-san, and Seno-san—was right by
Takei. At the moment, Izumi was there, too, stopping by in her role
as president of the festival organizing committee.
“Nice job with the festival, Yuzucchi!”
“Thanks, Takei!”
“You’re gonna raise the roof with us, right, Yuzucchi?”
“Oh, um, of course?!”
Undaunted, Takei had turned to Izumi on his right and was chatting
her up enthusiastically. Being a nice person, she answered politely.
High-caliber material right there.
“Nice! I’m gonna drink myself under the table tonight! Refill!” Takei
shouted, apparently drunk on cola.
“Uh, you know these are soft drinks, right?” Izumi joked.
“Chug it, Takei!” Nakamura jumped in.
“You know I will!!” he shot back.
Hinami and Izumi smiled and clapped, although they looked slightly
uncomfortable. I mean, why was he going to chug a soda? The only
thing he’ll get is a minor sugar rush. Man, I can already see these
guys going overboard when they get to university.
“Hanging back, eh, Director?”

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I looked up at the sudden voice and saw Mizusawa smiling directly at
me from across the table. Shady as always. I smiled back and shook
my head.
“Uh, yeah…I can’t keep up with that kind of thing,” I said.
“Ha-ha-ha. Not surprised.” Mizusawa seemed impressed by Takei
and the others. “I’m not so into it myself.”
“You’re not? Really?”
“Really. You don’t think I’m that type, do you?”
“No…I guess not.”
Even though he belongs to Nakamura’s group, he tends to keep his
cool in situations like this. I’ve never really seen him messing around
like a kid, which is probably a good thing, because I can’t even
imagine how far off the rails those other two would go without him
around.
“But seriously, Fumiya.”
“What?”
“That play was really good.”
“Yeah? Thanks.”
Suddenly, Mizusawa was getting all sincere on me, and his
expression was as cool as if he was talking about someone neither of
us knew. The play that Kikuchi-san wrote for the school festival had
been a smash hit—even subtracting my personal bias. I was still
feeling the aftereffects two days later.
“…But aren’t you kind of complimenting yourself? You had a starring
role!” I joked.
Mizusawa raised his eyebrows. “Technically, but I was just a
character doing what the script told me to do.”

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“A character… Yeah.”
I can’t help getting my guard up whenever I hear Mizusawa say that
word. Ever since the summer barbecue, the idea of a player’s
perspective versus a character’s perspective has been haunting our
conversations.
“Oh, I don’t mean in that sense. You were the one fighting the battle
this time, after all.”
“…Yeah…guess I was,” I agreed haltingly.
When Kikuchi-san had started floundering in her attempts to be
more like her “ideal,” I went to Mizusawa for advice, and he really
helped me figure out a way to be useful. After all that, there was no
reason to mince words now. Without Mizusawa’s perspective as a
person who was trying to change from a player to a character, I’m
fairly sure I wouldn’t have picked up on the emotions beneath
Kikuchi-san’s ideal. And that was exactly why I felt I had to say one
more thing on the subject.
“Kikuchi-san was in the battle, too,” I declared.
“Definitely,” he said, smiling in admiration. Relaxed as always, he
glanced at her. Everyone had been invited to the party, but it must
have taken a lot of courage for her to show up. She was sitting on the
girls’ side of the table, talking in a low voice with the girl next to her.
“She’s really changed,” Mizusawa said.
“…Yeah.”
I scratched behind my ear shyly as if Mizusawa had just
complimented me instead of her.
“I’m happy for you guys.”
“How so?” I asked.

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“When I read the final version of the script, I wasn’t sure what would
happen…but since you’re dating now, I guess everything worked
out,” he said, cool as a cucumber.
I flinched slightly. Apparently, he’d caught on to the underlying
meaning of the script.
For me and Kikuchi-san, “On the Wings of the Unknown” was a
special play, because it was about the way we looked at the world.
“Uh, just how much did you figure out…?”
“Who knows? Maybe I’m just trying to trick you into spilling the
beans.”
“Hey now…”
As usual, his aloof attitude had me tripping over my own feet, but I
wanted to hear his opinion. So far, no one had told me what they
thought about the play, or the characters, or the ending. Specifically,
I was curious to know what they had read between the lines.
“But you noticed some stuff in the script?”
“Of course I did. I’m a smart guy.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I brushed off his egotistical act, but I wanted to know more. He might
joke around when I try to tell him serious stuff, but he would never
hit me where it really hurt.
“What did you think when you read it?”
He paused for a second, still smiling. “Well, actually…I thought it was
pretty cruel of you to make me play that role.”
“Wait, ‘cruel’?”
The word caught me off guard.

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“I mean, I was playing Libra, and Libra ended up with Aoi, right?” He
raised one eyebrow. “Libra was supposed to be you, I assume?”
“…So you did catch that.”
I couldn’t deny his guess. Mimimi had noticed, too. “On the Wings of
the Unknown” was about Kikuchi-san herself…and Libra was me.
Mizusawa snickered, then sighed. “You know the truth… I mean, you
overheard me, right? When I was talking to Aoi on our trip.”
“…S-sorry about that.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” he said, glancing at Hinami before
looking back at me. “But knowing that, you had me and Aoi act out a
story where you and Aoi get together.”
“Uh…”
“Woe is Takahiro.” He laughed.
“I said I’m sorry…”
“Ha-ha-ha! It doesn’t really bother me,” he said casually. “In a sense,
I’m jealous of you. Even if it was a play…people don’t normally get
that deep into personal stuff.” There was a hint of emptiness in his
eyes. “You were both as serious as two people can be, right?”
Still, beneath the emptiness, I glimpsed the fire of pursuit. Maybe
that’s why I answered so honestly.
“It was only when I faced the situation head-on that I figured out
what dating her meant to me.”
“…Huh.”
This time, he listened without any snarky comebacks and gave me a
good, long stare. Finally, his face softened.

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“Anyway, I’m glad things turned out well. When I thought about that
story ending the way it did…with the two of them not together…
Well, I didn’t know what would happen with you and her.”
“S-sorry to make you worry.”
“All’s well that ends well. Good work, Fumiya. You can thank me for
everything.”
“Hey, why’d you say that?” I wasn’t going to let him get away with
that smooth little boast. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at that sort of
comeback by practicing comedy sketches with Mimimi.
“Why? Well, you already admitted to copying my way of talking, and
I believe I did give you quite a bit of advice.”
“Okay, fine, you did…”
Mizusawa chuckled, like my awkwardness amused him. The way it
annoyed me reminded me of Hinami.
“‘Everything’ might be an overstatement, but I’ll take credit for at
least a third.”
“No fair, how am I supposed to argue with a third?” I shot back. But
the more I thought about it, the more I felt he actually had saved my
butt about a third of the time. Damn, does this mean I’m in debt to
him?
“Seriously, though, I’m really happy for you.”
“…Thanks.”
He looked away before continuing. “Try to stay together for a while,
okay? For me.”
“Huh? What does that me—?” I started to ask, only to be abruptly
interrupted.
“What, what?! What are you and Farm Boy talking about, Takahiro?”

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I’d thought Takei was occupied with the girls, but apparently not.
Mizusawa turned toward him, and it was like he’d flipped a switch
and turned into a completely different person.
“Oh, I was just saying how amazing the play was.”
“Oh yeah!! I wanted to mention that! It was so good…”
Thanks to Takei’s intrusion, the intimate atmosphere of a moment
earlier evaporated instantly. That was too bad, because I was curious
what Mizusawa meant by “for me.” But now that Takei had broken
the ice, Hinami, Izumi, and Mimimi were glancing over at us and
getting ready to join our conversation, so there was no way I could
ask him about it now. Guess it doesn’t matter?
“I wanted to talk about the play, too! The story was so awesome!”
Izumi said innocently.
“I was great, wasn’t I?” Hinami boasted.
“You were actually kinda scary!” Mimimi replied with a grin. I’m
pretty sure Hinami and Mimimi both knew what the play was really
about, but neither of them would bring it up in a big group like this.
“If we’re going to talk about the play, we should include Kikuchi-san.
Kikuchi-san!” Izumi called.
“Huh? Oh, coming…!”
She joined us, and everyone started to talk about the play.
***
“I couldn’t attend all the rehearsals because of my other meetings,
so you know when the backdrop switched to full color? I was like, oh
my god!” Izumi gushed.
“Oh yeah, that was Kikuchi-san’s idea. We really busted our butts to
make it happen!” Hinami explained.

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“I almost cried!” Kashiwazaki-san said, piling on excitedly. “You
thought of that, Kikuchi-san?”
“Um, yes, I did…”
“That’s amazing! I don’t really know what’s what with this stuff, but I
think you could be a pro!”
“Wow…thank you so much…”
Kikuchi-san’s voice trailed off in the face of this direct compliment
from someone of her status. When Seno-san followed up with some
of her own favorite parts, Kikuchi-san’s face grew even redder.
As I watched, I really was happy for her. Hinami and Mizusawa and
Mimimi and I were so affected by the play partly because we
guessed its true meaning. But Kashiwazaki-san and Seno-san just
enjoyed the story Kikuchi-san had woven, without reading anything
else into it. Kikuchi-san’s words, her world, had reached people who
knew practically nothing about her.
“Mizusawa, you were incredible, too!”
“Ha-ha-ha. Turns out I can act, eh?”
“Ah-ha-ha! You’re so annoying.”
The conversation had shifted from the script to the acting. Seno-san
seemed like she was having fun talking to Mizusawa. Her eyes don’t
glitter like that when she talks to me. Behold, the player of a
character.
“But weren’t you surprised?” Hinami asked, steering the
conversation back to its original course.
Seno-san tilted her head curiously. “Surprised by what?”
“The ending—the part with the letter,” Hinami said nonchalantly, but
I noticed both Mizusawa and Mimimi do a double take. I’m sure my
own reaction was even more obvious.

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“You mean…what happened with Alucia and Libra?” Mimimi asked.
“Yeah,” Hinami answered, nodding sincerely. She didn’t seem to be
insinuating anything, but it struck me as unnatural. For those of us
who knew what the play really meant, the topic was loaded. I mean,
that scene was essentially Kikuchi-san’s way of rejecting me—and
saying she thought Hinami and I should end up together. That scene.
“Oh, that…,” Mizusawa said with a puzzled expression, playing it
safe. Mimimi glanced back and forth between Hinami and me, then
attempted to smile. She was probably trying to decide which
direction to take the conversation in.
Meanwhile, Hinami was staring at Kikuchi-san with a smile. Why had
she focused attention on that scene so suddenly? She probably knew
that Mizusawa and Mimimi knew what it meant, not to mention the
fact that Kikuchi-san and I were both here. The message in that
scene would have to be especially weighty for Hinami.
“Oh, I was totally surprised! I liked Kris, so I wanted her to end up
with Libra.”
“You did? But it would have been so sad if Alucia ended up all alone,
so I think it was better that way!”
Kashiwazaki-san and Seno-san were debating the question
passionately. Their innocent opinions lightened the mood and helped
me breathe a little bit easier again.
“That was…difficult to work out, for sure,” Kikuchi-san said, clearly
embarrassed by their comments. She glanced quickly at me. Given
that the models for her characters were sitting right in front of her, I
could see how she’d be struggling right now. “But I decided that
within the story, that was how things should go…so I wrote it like
that.”

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“Within the story?” Hinami interjected. I wasn’t sure if she meant
anything more or if the perfect heroine was just keeping the
conversation going.
“I’ve gotta admit…I was convinced,” Mizusawa said, looking straight
at Hinami.
“Wait, convinced of what?” Hinami asked, meeting his gaze head-on.
“That it was the right outcome.”
I understood what he was saying, but that was exactly why I didn’t
know how to respond. I mean, if he was saying it was right that Libra
and Alucia ended up together, that meant—
Mimimi’s eyes darted to Kikuchi-san in confusion, and Kikuchi-san
gave me an uncomfortable glance. It was Hinami who broke the
silence.
“Really? I’m not so sure.”
“And why is that?” Mizusawa asked.
“After all, Alucia wanted to become a powerful queen,” she
answered confidently. Of course, because it was Hinami, the edges of
her words were soft, and nothing she said would make those
listening feel awkward. “I thought Alucia would be the most powerful
queen in the world, always knowing the right thing to do, but with
that ending, I’m not so sure.”
Why not?
“Alucia ended up with Libra, but I think she’ll be weaker that way.”
It sounded to me like she was flat out rejecting the character of
Alucia that Kikuchi-san had created.
“…I can see what you’re saying!” Kashiwazaki-san agreed.

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Hinami smiled at her. “Right?” she answered amiably. “But I’m not
sure putting Libra together with Kris would have been any better.
Writing plays is hard!”
“Wow, I’m starting to imagine all sorts of stuff!”
Hinami and Kashiwazaki-san continued with their fluffy conversation.
I’d missed my chance, and the heart of the matter slipped away
again before we could breach the surface.
“And you know the scene where they fly on the dragon…”
After that, the conversation veered toward more simplistic
impressions, leaving behind the story’s ending and true meaning. But
this wasn’t the right situation to protest.
Still, I couldn’t help dwelling on it, even as the conversation flowed
on and I made the requisite comments.
Mizusawa’s question, Hinami’s answer, and her rejection of Alucia.
If that story and its themes didn’t sit right with Hinami, then what on
earth was her ideal?
***
Twenty or thirty minutes passed, and the party was winding down.
“I’m glad you came today,” I said to Kikuchi-san, who was taking a
breather in her original seat. Everyone had been switching places
and talking with various groups.
“Tomozaki-kun?”
She turned toward me, her expression relaxing. That was enough to
make me happy. I grinned.
“Are you tired?” I asked.
“Um…,” she said, her eyes sparkling excitedly as she searched for
words. Finally, she nodded. “I’m tired, but…”

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“Yeah?”
“I’m also really happy,” she said with a wide, genuine smile.
“Happy…? Oh, about that.” I knew exactly what she meant.
“Everyone really loved the play, huh?”
“…Uh-huh.” Her face flushed as she savored the moment. “The play
was all about things I like…so it feels like they accepted me, too. My
stomach is full of butterflies.”
“Really?” I asked, smiling again.
“I’m not very good at chatting and making friends…but I’m realizing
now that this is another way to interact with people.”
“…Yeah, that makes sense,” I answered.
I totally agreed. In the game of life, just living an ordinary life is
tough. Kikuchi-san isn’t naturally good at playing by its rules, but
she’d found a way to do it that she was good at. It was a beautiful
thing.
“And…I feel like maybe I can become friends with the people in class
who enjoy the same things as me. One step at a time.”
“Ha-ha. You do, huh?” I paused and thought about that for a
moment. “Well, remember, you don’t have to force yourself.”
“What do you mean?”
I was taking care not to reject her idea. “I think I said this when we
were talking about the script…but not everyone has to change to fit
in with their surroundings. There’s no rule saying you have to make
lots of friends.”
“…Okay. Thank you,” she said, smiling kindly.
“But if you want to do that, then I think it’s great.”
“I’ll think about it.”

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“You can always talk to me if something’s bothering you.”
The emotion on her face then was happy and determined at the
same time. After a second, she looked up at me again.
“I know. I will,” she said sincerely. That earnestness made me so
happy I couldn’t help smiling again.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” she said, raising her voice and looking at me
shyly. Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Tomozaki-kun… Merry Christmas.”
“Oh right,” I said, suddenly remembering that it was December 24.
We’d only started dating two days earlier, but this was nevertheless
our first Christmas as a couple.
“Yeah… Merry Christmas.”
“…Thank you.”
Then it dawned on me. “Sorry, I didn’t get you a present or
anything…”
From reading comics and stuff, I knew you were supposed to give
your girlfriend a present on Christmas Eve, but Kikuchi-san just shook
her head.
“Oh, that’s fine… We only started two days ago…”
I’m pretty sure she meant started dating, but she was too shy to
actually say the word. When I realized that, her shyness spread to
me, and I got this kind of restless, giggly feeling.
“Um…”
“Y-yes?”
We both knew what was going on, but it was somehow hard to say
directly. I guess neither of us know the right thing to do.
…In which case…

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Isn’t it the guy’s job to take action? It was in the comics, of course. I
looked her in the eye and said, “Um…but we are dating now. And we
have plenty of time…”
I was struggling not to look away.
She nodded, blushing. “Y-yes, that’s true…so…”
“Yeah?”
Then she took the plunge.
“…S-so next year, let’s exchange presents.”
“Huh?”
That meant we’d still be dating a year from now—my heart thumped
and my brain got scrambled. Wait a second—I thought I was good at
communicating now! But Kikuchi-san always cheats.
“Oh, uh, okay.”
I looked away. Then I got worried she might think I was lying, so I
turned my attention back to her. She was pouting slightly and glaring
at me.
“…ise.”
“What?”
She stuck out her pinkie, blushing. “Promise.”
I looked at those glistening eyes peering up at me from behind her
bangs and at the pinkie extended toward me. This wasn’t the magic
of an angel—it was a ritual offered by an amazing real-life girl.
“Oh…okay. Promise.”
I hooked my own pinkie onto hers, and we sealed our pact like two
little kids. What the heck? We’ve already held hands a couple of
times, so why did our fingers feel so unbearably hot?
“—!”

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We timidly pulled our hands back, both blushing.
“Your face is red, Kikuchi-san.”
“Yours is, too!”
We stared at each other, then broke out laughing.
***
Before I knew it, the party was almost over. We just had to collect
money from everyone and pay the bill.
“Is it free now?”
“Yup.”
Izumi headed off to the bathroom as soon as Seno-san got back from
using it. The people who had already paid and gotten ready to leave
were sitting around chatting lazily or standing outside waiting for the
rest of the group to leave. The mood was very chill.
Inside, Mimimi was hitting on Tama-chan by pretending she was still
hungry and asking for a café date, while Nakamura and Mizusawa
were messing around untying Takei’s shoes. Same old, same old.
But just then, I witnessed something unusual.
“…Huh?”
Two girls were standing outside the bathroom—Hinami and Kikuchi-
san.
“What’s going on…?”
Those two didn’t hang out much. And I don’t think they were waiting
for their turn in the bathroom—no, they seemed to be deep in
discussion. About something pretty serious, too, from what I could
tell.

Page | 32
My guess was they were continuing the slightly personal
conversation Hinami had begun during the party. Still, it was unusual
for Hinami to show her icier side to anyone but me.
A minute later, Izumi came out of the bathroom. She walked past
Hinami and Kikuchi-san and headed to the table where I was
standing to get her bag. When she got near, she glanced back at the
two of them, apparently puzzled.
“Hey, Tomozaki, are they friends?”
“…Huh? Oh,” I said, looking toward the bathroom again. “Yeah,
that’s not a pair I usually see together.”
“Well, just now…,” Izumi said, sounding worried.
“Yeah?”
“I overheard Kikuchi-san apologizing to Hinami.” I could tell she was
suspicious.
“Really?” That wasn’t what I would’ve assumed. “Apologizing about
what?”
“I don’t know, but when I walked past, I heard her say, ‘I’m sorry.’ I
didn’t want to eavesdrop, so I came over here.”
“…Oh.”
It was unusual enough for the two of them to be talking, but for
Kikuchi-san to apologize…? I replayed the earlier conversation about
the script in my mind, but I couldn’t find anything specific worth
apologizing for, so I just stood there, staring vaguely in their
direction.
Eventually, Izumi said, “Oh, here they come.”
“Yeah.”

Page | 33
The conversation apparently over, they were walking toward us side
by side. Hinami looked less serious now, and I didn’t sense any
tension.
“Is everyone ready to go?” she asked, looking at me and Izumi like
nothing had happened.
“Uh, uh-huh.” I nodded, swept along by her casual attitude.
“Should we go, then?” she replied before I had a chance to bring up
any of my questions, and the four of us left the restaurant.
***
Outside, everyone was acting excited.
“Oooooh! It’s snowing!”
Takei ran out into the street and waved his arms around.
“Snow…?”
Izumi and I exchanged glances. I stuck my hand out from under the
eaves of the restaurant and sure enough.
“It really is snowing!” I stared at the flakes accumulating on my hand,
surprised.
“Wait, it’s really snow!” Izumi exclaimed happily, raising both hands
toward the sky.
“Oh yeah…I think the weather report did call for snow.”
Kikuchi-san and I both stood quietly, looking up at the dark Christmas
Eve sky. Tiny white flakes danced through the air, glittering in the
lights of the avenue as they drifted softly onto us.
“It’s so beautiful,” Hinami said, smiling. Her expression was gentle
and full of a kind of all-embracing affection. As usual, I had no idea if
it reflected her genuine feelings or if it was merely a mask. I hoped

Page | 34
that at least in a moment like this she would let the world see her
real emotions.
Kikuchi-san was still gazing up at the sky, her gloved hands held out
palm up in front of her. Her expression was a tiny bit more childlike
and naive than usual. After a moment, she captured a snowflake
softly between her fingers.
“…Isn’t it amazing?”
She laughed, her breath white, and looked up at me.
“Yeah.” I nodded, smiling back at her.
We weren’t on a date, but still, snow on my first Christmas with
Kikuchi-san. Maybe it was pure coincidence, a random encounter in
the game of life.
But for some reason, I felt like the whole world was wishing us well
right then.
“A white Christmas,” I mumbled, lost in the moment.
“It better stick! I wanna have a snowball fight! …Whoops!” Takei
shouted, demolishing my quiet reverie as he slipped on a wet
manhole cover and fell flat on his butt. “Man, that hurt!”
This guy really knows how to ruin the moment.
“Shut up, Takei.”
“Geez, you’re such a jerk sometimes!”
Which is why I told him exactly what I thought. He’s convenient
when the mood gets dark, but sometimes he’s a total pest.
“So wanna go do karaoke now?” Nakamura suggested.
“Awesome idea! I’m in!” Takei answered, jumping right on board.
Then they looked at me and Kikuchi-san and grinned.
“You two are coming, too, right?”

Page | 35
“What, to karaoke?” I asked, caught off guard by this sudden
development.
Nakamura nodded like it was totally obvious. “Yeah, right now.”
“Um…,” I hedged. I didn’t have a reason to say no, and it might be
fun to go since we were all hyper from the snow. But Kikuchi-san was
standing next to me, and I didn’t know if she would want to do
something social. Actually, my guess was she wouldn’t. And it
wouldn’t be right to leave her alone. As I was trying to decide what
to do, Izumi interceded.
“Okay, Shuji, I’m sure we all want to go, but look at the time,” she
scolded.
“What?”
She held out her phone toward us. It was already ten o’clock.
Incidentally, her home screen had a photo of a really busty foreign
woman on it, which made me newly aware of how different our
tastes are.
“I swear…you’re such a killjoy.”
“Am not! I just don’t want to get in trouble!”
Arguing against the background of snow, they made me think of your
stereotypical troublesome husband and virtuous wife. I wanted to
tell them to go on like that for the rest of their lives. But Izumi was
right—in Saitama, high school students are forbidden from being out
in public after eleven at night. If you stay out past then, you get
abducted by Kobaton, our prefectural mascot.
“Let’s do it another time. I mean, since we’ll be studying so hard next
year, this is like our last winter break of high school,” Mizusawa said,
jumping in to smooth over the argument. Nakamura pouted silently
for a second, then acquiesced to the inevitable.
“Okay, fine…I guess.”

Page | 36
“What?! But it’s snowing!” Meanwhile, Takei was still resisting,
though his logic evaded me. “Wait, snow has nothing to do with
karaoke.”
“Nope…,” Nakamura said, leaving Takei without a comeback. It’s
impossible to hate Takei because he gives in so easily when he’s
wrong.
I glanced at Kikuchi-san. Nakamura, Hinami, Izumi, and Mimimi were
talking about when to do karaoke together. Would she want to go
with them?
“What do you want to do?”
“Huh?”
“Do you want to go out to karaoke with them?” I whispered. She
hesitated, then looked me in the eye.
“Um, I’m not the best in big groups…so I’d rather not.”
She was turning down my invitation, but definitely not in a cold way.
“Okay,” I said.
“But…I really like all of them, because they liked the play.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling. It was important to respect her wishes. She
wasn’t rejecting them, she was carving out her own niche. She was
simply saying that not everyone had to enjoy the same things.
“You should go with them and have fun,” she said.
“You don’t mind?”
She shook her head. “No. I mean, those are your good friends,
right?”
“…Um, yeah.”
It was embarrassing to be asked so directly, but I answered honestly.

Page | 37
“I want you to have a good time,” she said, smiling cheerfully. “And
tell me all about it afterward!” Her expression was radiant and her
tone kind.
“Okay, I will.”
Suddenly, a freezing cold something hit me in the face.
“…Oof!”
I spun around to find Takei laughing at me so hard I could practically
see down his throat. I touched the cold substance on my face and
clothes: snow. In other words…
“I’m gonna get you, asshole!” I shouted, glaring at him as I scraped
up the snow that was starting to accumulate in colder corners of the
street and packed it into a ball. You hit me; I’ll pay you back with
interest. I’m not just gonna lie down and take it. Such is the way of
the gamer.
“Oh, so you wanna fight, Farm Boy?”
“I don’t just play Atafami, you know. I play FPSs, too, and I’ve got
good aim.”
“Uh, I didn’t get that, but you’re in, right?”
Izumi was listening in on our ugly battle of words with dismay. “Guys
are so immature!”
Kikuchi-san was watching from next to her, and she just giggled.
***
“Ha-ha…he got me good.”
Fifteen minutes later, Kikuchi-san and I were standing under the
eaves of a convenience store set back from the street down a short
flight of stairs. We’d just said good-bye to the group after a round of
mortal combat between me and Takei—but now we were alone.

Page | 38
“Tee-hee. Yes, he did.”
I hadn’t been trying to get her alone. But after my defeat in the
unexpected battle of snow scraped up from random crevices and
corners, I’d been lured by a suspiciously smiley Mizusawa and Izumi
over to the convenience store to buy hot chocolate, and now here
we were. I’m fairly sure they ganged up on me so I’d make the most
of this unusual white Christmas situation. I was cursing them silently
for interfering—but yeah, I was happy to be alone with Kikuchi-san.
“Your friends are fun to hang out with,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Huh? Oh, they just like to mess around…”
“…Yes, but they’re still fun.”
A puff of white breath escaped her lips as she giggled. She pressed
one fluffy gloved hand to her mouth. Standing there in the snow on
Minamiginza Street with its shops and restaurants, she looked both
otherworldly and firmly planted in reality. I wasn’t looking at an
angel or a fairy—I was looking at a mystically beautiful human girl.
“So…should we head over to the station?”
“…Okay.”
I took a step forward, matching my stride to hers. The downtown
had that peaceful atmosphere it gets just before the new year,
seasoned with the excitement of Christmas Eve. As the white flakes
swirled more and more thickly from the sky, the streets began to
look unfamiliar.
“Wow, I think it might actually stick,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Yeah, maybe.”
The snow melted on the asphalt, but it was slowly piling up on the
seats of parked bicycles, the garbage cans next to vending machines,
and the trees and bushes outside the station. At this rate, we might
even wake up to a winter wonderland the next morning.

Page | 39
“We’re alone together…on Christmas Eve.”
“Um, uh, yeah.”
I could feel my face instantly flush at this unexpectedly passionate
statement from Kikuchi-san.
“I’m sorry, that was sudden… It’s just—I feel so happy…”
“Oh yeah, of course. Um…so do I.”
Our words were clumsy, but I’m sure they were honest.
We were a pair of lovers walking through the snowy city on a sacred
night. Definitely a first for me, and a special one. Just walking along
like that made me shy and happy and satisfied all at the same time.
“…There are so many people out tonight,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Yeah.”
Christmas music drifted from every shop and restaurant, and I’m not
sure, but there seemed to be an unusually large number of couples
among the crowd. In the past, that kind of thing always made me
feel lonely, but tonight, their excitement was contagious. Maybe
that’s why even a bottom-tier character like me had the urge to
implement the idea that suddenly popped into my head.
“Um, can you wait a second?”
I scraped up some of the snow that had settled on the bushes and
trees and began to shape it between my hands. I was being a little
more careful than earlier when I made snowballs to throw at Takei.
“Tomozaki-kun?”
The idea had come to me as the two of us were walking through this
holy night. True, we’d only been dating for two days, so maybe it was
inevitable that I wasn’t prepared. Still, not having anything to give
her made me sad. So I gathered up the snow and formed it into two
little balls, smaller than the palm of my hand. Kikuchi-san must have

Page | 40
known by then what I was up to. Since I had the snowball fight to
thank for the idea, I had to admit that maybe I should be grateful for
Takei’s existence for the first time in my life. I placed one of the balls
on top of the other on my palm and held it out to Kikuchi-san.
“Um, h-here’s your Christmas present…?”
I didn’t have much confidence in that statement.
The misshapen little creation sat on the tips of my fingers. It didn’t
have a nose or eyes or mouth, but it was identifiably a snowman. At
least the bottom part was bigger than the top one. Kikuchi-san
stared at it, and after a few seconds, a chuckle escaped her lips. She
picked it up and set it on her own hand. Then she beckoned for me
to follow and squatted down next to the base of a tree.

Page | 41
Page | 42
“Let’s put these on it.”
She took off her gloves and picked up something from the ground
that looked like a seed. An innocent, happy smile on her face, she
pressed two of them onto the snowman.
“Oh, they’re eyes.”
“Tee-hee. Yes!”
Now the grotesque little snowman had one big eye and one small
one, which made it look even more homemade. It was such a
ridiculously amateurish job that as I stared at it, I wanted to laugh.
“That’s the ugliest snowman I’ve ever seen!”
“But he’s so cute!”
“…He is.”
We look at each other and burst out laughing. Even though we were
just being silly together, that brief moment in time felt immeasurably
precious.
“…Um, so…,” I said, getting my nerve up to make a proposal. “Want
to take a photo with it?”
I wanted to preserve this moment forever.
“Yes!” she answered, bowling me over with her excitement.
“Great! So…” With the camera skills I learned during my Instagram
assignment, I swiftly prepared to shoot the photo. “Okay, ready!”
“Okay!”
I snapped the three of us together: me, Kikuchi-san, and the
snowman.

Page | 43
“…Whew, not blurry.”
“…What?”
For a second, Kikuchi-san seemed confused by my comment, not
realizing that blurry photos are my norm. But that was fine. The
important thing was that I got the picture.
“I’ll send it to you later,” I said.
“Yes, please do!”
We started walking toward the station again.
“Oh dear, I don’t think they’ll let him on the train,” she said
regretfully.
“Ah-ha-ha. Sad but true.”
Succumbing to inevitable reality, we set the snowman down on the
roots of a tree. We glanced at each other, then both waved good-
bye.
A moment later, we were at Omiya Station, and our time together
was over.
“Oh, um…,” Kikuchi-san said in a determined tone. She was looking
up at me with moist eyes. “When can I see you again…?”
“Um…”
Her voice and expression were much warmer than when we were
around other people.
“Next time…I want to go out just the two of us…like we are right
now.”
Her expression was expectant, like she was counting on me for
something. An ordinary glance from her was enough to make me
blush, so needless to say, this particular expression turned me into a
tongue-tied idiot.

Page | 44
“Uh, um…w-wait a second.”
My heart melting beneath her gaze, I pulled up the calendar on my
phone and searched for a free day soon. I wanted to see her again as
much as she wanted to see me.
“…How about the day after tomorrow or the day after that?”
“Oh, okay, then the day after tomorrow!”
She latched on to my suggestion in an excited, almost anxious way.
“Ah-ha-ha, got it.” Then I realized something. “…Oh.”
Kikuchi-san tilted her head quizzically. As for what I’d noticed when I
looked at the calendar…
“I’m free on New Year’s Day…” I tried to say it as casually and
confidently as possible. I mean, this was what I wanted, after all.
“Want to go to a shrine together?”
“Oh, I’d love to!” she said right away, nodding enthusiastically.
“Ah-ha-ha… So we’ll skip the day after tomorrow and get together on
New Year’s?” I said, figuring I’d better not monopolize too much of
her time. She caught her breath, instantly crestfallen.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that…” She paused for a moment, searching for words
before finally looking up at me with those moist eyes, her cheeks
flushed. “…I want to see you on both days.”
Definitely not fair. How was I supposed to even think when she said
something like that?
“O-okay, then both. Let’s meet both times,” I said, surrendering my
heart completely.
“…Okay. I’m glad,” she said, lowering her head.
“Uh…me too.”

Page | 45
We were awkward, but we were sharing our feelings. Simply
arranging our next date turned me into a quivering mess. The world
right then truly was filled with color. I couldn’t help thinking that the
photo we took, along with the memory of this moment, was the best
Christmas present I could have hoped for.
***
We went through the ticket gate together. Since we live on different
train lines, this was where we would part ways.
“Well…I’ll get in touch soon.”
“O-okay.”
My heart still thumping, I watched her walk away, then headed to
the Saikyo Line platform. Images from earlier in the day were
flickering through my mind. I felt light and happy—but also a little bit
lonely.
I walked down the stairs to the platform and glanced at the
timetable. My train was scheduled to leave in a few minutes.
I was still floating on air when it arrived and I stepped aboard. As the
train began to move, I looked out at the snowy city streets. Suddenly,
I remembered something Izumi had said.
“I overheard Kikuchi-san apologizing to Hinami.”
I never did get a chance to ask Kikuchi-san what the two of them had
been talking about. I hadn’t wanted to ruin the moment, but really, I
felt like it wasn’t my business.
Soon the train pulled into Kitayono Station. I left the station and was
walking slowly toward my house when—
“Ah!”

Page | 46
A notification buzzed on my phone. I took it out of my pocket and
saw that it was a LINE message from Kikuchi-san. I opened the chat
window right away.

[Thank you for today.

I’m not sure why, but I felt so happy and relaxed. It was really fun.]

[When we were talking, and when we made our next date…

I realized we really are together, and my heart was pounding so
hard. I’m so looking forward to seeing you the day after tomorrow and
on New Year’s Day.]
I felt like I was about to collapse to the ground in a dead faint just
from reading it. So unfair!
“—Erg!”
The streets of Kitayono were chilly, but the message from Kikuchi-
san and the photo we’d taken together felt hotter than a hand
warmer in my palm.

Page | 47
Page | 48
2: A nameless flower
“Kaboom!”
“Nooo! You tricked me, Aoi!”
“I did not!”
Innocent voices called back and forth in a small children’s room.
Three elementary-aged girls were sitting in front of a TV set hooked
up to an old game console. On the screen, two pixel-art pigs wearing
sunglasses raced around shooting each other with laser guns. Aoi
and Nagisa were playing while Haruka, the shortest of the three,
watched.
“Hya!” Aoi said as she nimbly moved her fingers on the controller.
Oinko, her pig character, swiftly dodged a bomb and aimed an
energy blast at Nagisa, hitting her target perfectly.
“Ahhhhh!! Nagisa got hit!” her younger sister Haruka squealed.
“Hee-hee, you’re easy to beat!” Aoi set her controller down and
gloated at her sister.
“Darn it, I lost…” Nagisa pouted and stared at her controller for a
second, then turned to Aoi and said cheerfully, “Let’s play again!”
“Really? You’re just gonna lose again.”
“Will not! I’m gonna win this time!” Nagisa announced confidently,
though she had no reason for it. She gripped her controller and
stared straight at the screen.
“Ugh. If I have to,” Aoi said, intentionally kindling her sister’s
competitiveness. She grabbed her controller with a relaxed
expression as Haruka watched excitedly.
“Get her good, Nagisa! Down with Aoi the Evil Overlord!”
“Leave it to me!”

Page | 49
“Hey, why’m I the Evil Overlord?!” Aoi asked, laughing.
The game started, and her fingers flickered nimbly over the
controller.
“Ooh…she’s so good.”
The two pigs on the screen clashed, shooting, dodging, and chipping
away at each other. At the same moment as in the last game, Nagisa
threw a bomb. Aoi dodged it and fired at Nagisa in the lag.
“Heh-heh, that’s all you’ve got?”
This time, Nagisa grinned boldly.
“Nope… Gotcha!”
“Oh no!”
Just before Aoi’s blast hit, Nagisa launched a second bomb. It
canceled out Aoi’s blast, then barreled straight into Oinko.
“Ahhhh!”
The bomb exploded into Oinko, who instantly vanished. A moment
later, the results screen appeared.
“That’s so correct, I think I’ve been hexed!!” Nagisa’s Oinko—a
different color from Aoi’s—said, striking a pose.
“Yesss! See that? I won!”
“Wow, you’re super good!” Haruka said.
“Thanks for cheering for me, Haruka!”
“Sniff, sniff…”
Aoi scrunched up her eyebrows dramatically, whimpering like a baby.
Nagisa pounced on her, grinning.
“Oof!”

Page | 50
“Hey, Nagisa, be careful!” Aoi said, wrapping her arms around her
younger sister and tapping her back with a wry smile.
“Aoi!”
“What?”
Nagisa grinned from ear to ear, still in Aoi’s arms, and announced,
“This is fun!”
Her words were so honest and direct that Aoi grinned back and
answered, “Yeah, I know!” And even though she’d just lost, she
really, truly meant it.
***
“Agh.”
The Sekitomo School Festival Celebration and Christmas Party was
over, and Aoi Hinami was on her way home. Her mind was full of old
memories. She was thinking about the days when Nagisa and Haruka
were both still there, when their little room still felt huge. As the
train rocked along through the night, her thoughts, for once, were
stuck in the past.
Of course, she knew why that was—for one, the play Fuka Kikuchi
had written, and for another, the conversation they’d had at the
party earlier that night. More specifically, the emotions depicted in
the play and the words Fuka had said to her. Unsettling, long-buried
memories were slowly rising to the surface.
Outside the train windows, snow fell heavily. It was slowly covering
the bare face of the city with a beautiful, pure white layer, like a
mask. Aoi gazed out at the darkened city. Or perhaps she was
searching for her own faint reflection in the window.
“…It doesn’t matter,” she muttered to herself, steadying her breath.
She sounded as if she were announcing this fact to the world.

Page | 51
Whichever it was, she tossed her words out violently, with an
unusually steely strength.
Another memory had risen to the surface.
A memory of defeat and determination.
***
It was early summer. Aoi was in her third year of junior high, and her
hard work was starting to yield satisfying results—yet she was
unsure how to move forward.
“Well done! First place again,” said her homeroom teacher, a man in
his midforties, as he handed Aoi an A4-size sheet of paper with her
grades. He was smiling proudly, almost as if the achievement were
his own.
“Ah-ha-ha. Thank you. I hope I can do as well next time.”
Aoi made sure her smile was soft as she took the paper from him.
Her scores in each subject were written in a column, with “1/154” at
the very bottom. She attended a public junior high on the outskirts of
Omiya. The number meant she’d achieved the highest final exam
score in her grade. It was an objective, straightforward affirmation of
her path.
“You’ve got plenty of rivals. Don’t slack off.”
“I know. I’ll keep studying hard.”
She rearranged her expression to signal renewed commitment. But
the truth was, she was almost certain she would get the top score
again. She’d already gotten it three times in a row. She knew how to
do it; as long as she stayed consistent, she figured she could repeat
her success.
“After all, I’ve set a pattern now.”

Page | 52
Until her first year of junior high, her grades had been average—
actually, they’d fluctuated between average and below average.
Over time, she’d gradually pushed them up, until she finally reached
the summit with her first-place score. Her efforts might not be
visible, but they were firmly rooted in her as something she could
reproduce.
“I’ll do my best to keep it up.”
“Good. I’m expecting you to go far,” her teacher said.
Problem was, now that she knew she could keep getting the same
results, she was gradually losing interest in doing so.
“…Keep it up…,” she mumbled.
“What was that, Hinami?”
“Oh, nothing. Thank you so much.”
After all, she could prove herself no further in this particular arena.
***
At six thirty that evening, Aoi was on the basketball court in the gym.
She stood confidently in front of two rows of players, an intense
expression on her face.
“All right, that’s it for today. The tournament is coming up, so be
careful not to injure yourself, everyone.”
She smiled, then swept her gaze over the players one by one, looking
each one in the face. She was captain of the team. All thirty or so
members looked back at her solemnly, and a slight shudder of
tension ran through them as their eyes met hers. She had created
this atmosphere entirely on her own.
She smiled at them in satisfaction, then relaxed her expression
theatrically.
“…Thanks, ladies, for coming on this journey with me.”

Page | 53
“Aoi…?”
Chinami Yokoyama, the assistant captain, was standing in the middle
of the lines of players. She glanced at Aoi in surprise, thrown off by
her sudden swing from cold to warm.
“Yes, well…I know the tournament is still a month away, but I wanted
to say something now.”
Aoi looked down, peeked at everyone bashfully, then raised her head
again.
“I know I’ve been tough on you the past year or two, and maybe I’ve
been a little selfish. I’ve worked you hard during practice, and I’ve set
impossible goals.”
“That’s not—”
“No,” she said, cutting Yokoyama off but in a kind tone. “I’m truly
grateful to you all.”
She slowly bent down, picked up the basketball at her feet, and
dribbled it in front of her. The rhythmic sound echoed across the
court to the players. Then she caught the ball affectionately in her
arms, and silence returned to the court. All eyes were trained on her.
She knew that repetitive movement and sound was a good way of
drawing their attention.
“At first, I wasn’t sure.”
“…You weren’t?”
This uncharacteristic display of weakness further drew out her
teammates’ emotions.
“To tell the truth…I thought people would say I was crazy for thinking
our team could make it to the nationals, when we’d only ever gotten
to the prefectural finals before.”

Page | 54
Aoi was faltering on purpose, so the revelation would feel less
intentional and more real.
“But you know what? You believed in me. You believed I was
serious.”
She put on her bashful face again, but this time, she infused her
expression with a tiny bit more emotion and gratitude.
“I would have given up a long time ago if it wasn’t for all of you.”
Her expression looked fragile enough to crumple any second, and her
gestures were warm and affectionate. The two lines of players
caught their breath at her words, and soon they were stumbling over
themselves to reply.
“But…that’s only because you worked harder than any of us!”
“Yeah! If it weren’t for you, we would never have made it this far!”
“Exactly! I’m so…happy I’m on the…b-b-basketball team with you,
Hinami!”
The emotions were spilling forth now, and some of the girls had
started to cry. Aoi took in the sight of her team with a smile on her
face as she slowly nodded. She turned away for a second and wiped
at her eyes. When she looked back at them, all trace of tears was
gone.
She made eye contact with Yokoyama and gently tossed her the ball.
Yokoyama grabbed it firmly.
“I said I couldn’t have made it this far without you…but this isn’t the
end. I’ll need you in the future, too.”
She met Yokoyama’s eyes again and held her arms out at chest level.
Yokoyama tossed her the ball, and she caught it with both hands.
Next, she passed it to a second-year student named Kagami.
“We can’t make it to first place unless everyone works together.”

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“…First place?”
She’d said the words casually, but which first place did she mean?
Her teammates knew the words, but they didn’t sense her true
meaning yet.
Aoi held her arms out, and Kagami passed the ball back to her. Their
actions were almost ceremonial. After all, Aoi had planned out every
moment of this performance.
“I’m serious.” She put her hand in the right pocket of her sweat suit.
“Do you know what this is?”
She pulled out a slip of paper. Everyone leaned forward to see what
it was, then exchanged glances.
“Um…”
When she sensed no one was going to answer, Aoi continued
speaking in a casual tone.
“It’s my report card. We got our scores on finals today, right?” She
looked at Yokoyama. “Yoko-chan, I wasn’t a very good student in our
first year, was I?”
“Um…no, you weren’t,” Yokoyama said. She didn’t know the details
of Aoi’s grades, but her image of Aoi back then was not as a star
student.
“But I worked little by little to improve…and now I’m in first place.”
She was gazing out confidently at her teammates. Yokoyama already
knew she’d gotten first again, so she wasn’t surprised, but she was
filled with renewed admiration.
“This is your third time in a row to be first, isn’t it?”
Their teammates gasped. Aoi nodded, satisfied with their response,
and tucked the paper back into her pocket without unfolding it.
“I’m not trying to boast… I just want you to believe in me.”

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She didn’t think they actively doubted her, but she did feel their faith
was slightly short of what was needed for them to bet on her—so
she continued speaking slowly, lighting a fire in their hearts.
“I’m first in our school—but only in our school. I got there by tackling
my weaknesses… And I think this team can do the same.”
Perhaps because they guessed what she was going to say next, their
attention was drawn increasingly to her words and expression.
“You’ve always been good players, and you worked hard for the past
two years. We came together as a team to achieve our shared goal.”
All eyes were glued to her.
“That’s why I know we can reach any heights we shoot for.”
She made sure her tone was powerful and earnest.
“Let’s do this! Let’s shoot for the stars!”
In unison, her teammates responded: “Yeah!”
Some of them were crying, and others looked determined. Each
expression was slightly different, but they all believed in her fully.
Sensing that they were all aligned behind the same goal now, she
nodded once, firmly. Partly, she was satisfied because everyone was
fired up to go to nationals. But more than that, she was pleased that
the speech she had practiced over and over had had its intended
effect on her teammates. That in itself was gratifying.
She might have been expecting this—expecting that she would be
able to prove herself in this new arena.
***
Aoi walked to the station with the rest of the team, then split off and
headed home by herself. In the entryway, she slipped off her loafers
and paused in front of the closed living room door. She could hear
her mother moving around on the other side. Oil was sizzling in the

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kitchen; apparently, she was frying something. Her mother’s
presence unsettled her just slightly.
Aoi placed her hand on her chest, then reached into her pocket and
fingered her report card. As she reached for the doorknob, she
visualized her mother’s happy reaction and her own response.
“…I’m home!” she called innocently and turned the knob. As she’d
guessed, her mother was standing in the kitchen cooking. She smiled
brightly at her daughter.
“Hi, Aoi! Good timing.”
“For what?”
“Dinner’s almost ready. I made cheeseburgers, your favorite.”
“Yay! Thank you!”
Her demeanor now was intentionally a bit more girlish than when
she was in school. She took her usual spot at the dining table. Her
mother set a lid on the frying pan and sat down across from Aoi.
“Is dinner okay?” Aoi asked.
“Yes, it’s fine. I always put a lid on at the end to let the burgers finish
cooking after I turn off the heat. It’s a little trick to make the meat
more tender.”
“Wow!” Aoi said, overacting just a bit.
Her mother smiled. “How’s school going?” she asked casually.
Aoi stiffened; she was about to affirm her own achievement.
“…Well, we got our test scores back today,” she replied, pretending
to have just remembered.
“How’d you do?”
It was an ordinary question, but before she answered, Aoi made sure
her expression was slightly playful and her tone relaxed.

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“Can you believe it? I got first again.”
“Really? That’s wonderful!” her mother cheered. She nodded with
satisfaction, then smiled kindly. “You really are my little indigo
flower, always blooming and reaching for the sun.”
Aoi was a bit surprised by her mother’s reaction, and for a second,
she didn’t know what to say. But she quickly pasted a smile back on
her face.
“…Aren’t I?”
“You sure are. I’m always bragging to the other moms about you.”
“Ah-ha-ha. Now you’re buttering me up.”
Her mother’s happiness and unconditional approval didn’t come as a
surprise. They talked for a few more minutes, then her mother stood
up to check on their dinner. Aoi let out a long breath and bit her lip
at her own weakness. Her mother slid the hamburgers onto their
plates.
“Can you go tell Haruka dinner is ready?”
“Sure.”
Aoi walked upstairs to her sister’s room. She was three years
younger, a sixth grader in elementary school.
“Haruka?” she called, knocking on the door.
“Wait a second!” came the excited response. Aoi could make out the
faint sound of video game background music on the other side of the
door.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Okay, I’ll come down as soon as this game’s over!”

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“All righty,” Aoi said, smiling wryly as she walked back downstairs
and sat at the table again. Her mother was in the kitchen putting the
finishing touches on their three plates.
“Where’s your sister?”
“Playing a video game. She said she’ll come down when she’s done.”
“She’s really obsessed with that game,” her mother said with a giggle
as she carried their plates to the table.
“I know. I think it’s called Attack Families?”
“Yep.”
“It’s super popular right now. All the boys in my class are into it.”
Aoi’s mother sat down across from her to wait for Haruka.
“You’re not interested?”
“I’m not sure I have time to play video games.”
“Ah-ha-ha. True, you’ve got homework and basketball already, so
adding in games probably would be a bit much.”
“…Yeah.”
Her mother’s response made her a little uneasy, but they kept on
talking. A few minutes later, Haruka came downstairs. “Ooh,
hamburgers!”
“With cheese!” their mother said proudly.
“Yum! Your favorite, right, Aoi?”
Aoi smiled at her sister’s childish reaction, as if it reassured her.
“Yup. Hurry up and sit down, okay?”
Once they were all seated, they began their meal. It was an ordinary,
peaceful family scene. But there was something anxious and

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unsettled in Aoi’s expression, as if she hadn’t yet fully defined
herself.
***
After dinner, Aoi went to her room and opened the Excel file she
filled in every day on her computer. A graph showing her quiz and
test scores over time was pulled up on the screen. The line started
out nearly flat before curving up at an increasingly steep angle,
eventually zooming to the top. The shape reflected not only her first-
place status but also her growing ROI on the effort she’d been
putting in. Essentially, she was learning to put in “the right kind of
effort.”
“Okay…okay.”
She took a deep breath, let it out, and gazed at the graph with
something verging on excitement. Was she gazing at the present, the
path she took to get there, or the future? Whatever the answer, the
uncertainty of earlier had vanished from her face.
“…Let’s see.”
She opened a Word file and began to edit it. The heading read
“Midterm Goals,” with a list of phrases below: “Stay in first place on
finals and midterms,” “Become a top basketball player and lead the
team to nationals,” “Become a central member of the most popular
group.”
Her fingers reached down to the mouse pad below the keyboard. As
she ran her fingers over it, the cursor on the screen selected the text,
turning the background black. Aoi stared at the screen for a moment,
then lightly pressed a key. Instantly, the three lines of text
disappeared. All that remained was the heading, with an expanse of
white below. Each vision and goal she achieved left emptiness in its
wake. A meaningless column.
“Okay.”

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She took another deep breath, thinking in order to control her
anxiety. As long as she was running, everything was easy, but the
second she stopped, she was drenched in sweat. She was already
growing accustomed to a state of constant running.
She had reached first place in her school in several arenas—in her
midterms and finals, the arena of academics; among her classmates,
the arena of communication; and on the basketball team, the arena
of physical ability. So what was her next goal?
She nodded and began to type, recalling the scene at practice earlier
that day. She wanted those results to be reproducible. In which case,
she needed a new arena. Something she hadn’t achieved yet.

“Win first place in the basketball nationals.”

She stared at this new promise to herself, then closed the Word file,
satisfied.
***
A month passed.
“We can do this! We’ve made it this far; we can finish it off!”
Aoi and her team had won the prefectural tournament without
incident and were now at nationals. Their school hadn’t been on
anyone’s radar, and now here they were facing off with the nation’s
best. That should have been more than enough to satisfy anyone,
though it was the inevitable outcome of the amount and quality of
effort they’d put in. At least in the realm of junior high sports, Aoi
had polished her method to an art.
“For sure! Don’t let up now, ladies! Work your magic!”
“Ah-ha-ha. Come on, Yokoyama—that’s Aoi’s line.”
“Hey, let me have this!”

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Everyone on the team had worked hard to reach this moment. They
stood next to the court, supporting one another as they revved
themselves up for the game.
“Let’s go!”
Their battle for the national title was about to start.
Two days later, Aoi stood on the court crying.
She’d made it to the national tournament, where the best teams
from all over Japan fought it out on the main stage. But her team
came in second.
Needless to say, Aoi was not crying tears of joy. She was frustrated at
being only the second best in the whole country.
By any other standards, the team’s results would have been too
good to be true. Until a year earlier, they’d have been lucky to make
it to the prefectural tournament, and now suddenly they were the
second-best team in Japan. They hadn’t managed to capture the gold
medal, but anyone would have been amazed by their achievement.
And Aoi was the one who got them there. No one would dream of
criticizing her.
But still.
“First place goes to Yatsuyanagi Junior High School.”
At the closing ceremony, Aoi gritted her teeth hearing the words first
place paired with the name of a school that was not her own. Her
frustration at her results, as incredible as they were, was so
overwhelming she felt it was ripping her apart. Perhaps the tears
stemmed from all the determination and effort she’d put in, or
perhaps from a sense that she was under a spell she couldn’t escape.
“…”
Standing next to her, Yokoyama silently rested a hand on Aoi’s
shoulder. But she couldn’t bring herself to even murmur Aoi’s name.

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She had realized something as she watched her team captain sob.
Like the others, Yokoyama had worked harder in the past year than
she ever imagined she could work. She’d followed Aoi’s lead, walking
in her shadow—perhaps to grant Aoi’s wish.

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Page | 65
But Aoi always worked much harder.
A thought lurked in the back of Yokoyama’s mind—and in the minds
of all the other girls on the team.

If there were five Aois on the team, we would have won.

That’s why she and the others remained silent. They’d followed her,
but the dream of being the top team in Japan was a dream that Aoi
gave them, no more. It had never been something they themselves
were determined to achieve.
“…!”
Yokoyama bit her lip, frustrated at her own dependence and
powerlessness. But realizing that now didn’t help the situation. She
couldn’t rewind time, and she couldn’t reverse the tournament
results.
They’d always depended on Aoi when they were in trouble, even in
basketball games. She became their go-to in difficult situations.
Eventually, they started believing they wouldn’t reach their dream
through their own efforts, but that Aoi would lead them there.
“…I’m fine, Yoko-chan…”
That’s why Yokoyama and the other players didn’t comfort her or
congratulate one another on their hard work.
In fact, they couldn’t even feel genuine regret over the outcome.
***
A few hours later, the team was in a room at a Japanese restaurant
in Omiya that their coach had rented out for a party. The tension of
the game had dissipated, and all thirty team members, including the

Page | 66
reserve players and first-year students, were gathered in the large
tatami room.
“Thanks for all your hard work, Aoi!”
“You looked awesome out there!”
“It’s so amazing we got second place…!”
The words of congratulation and praise that the younger players
offered soothed Aoi slightly, but of course they didn’t reach her core.
Not a single person in the room had worked as hard as her; they
couldn’t genuinely praise her, and she couldn’t genuinely praise
them.
“Ah-ha-ha. Thanks.”
The best she could do was nod and smile superficially.
As the party was winding down, the starters each said a few words to
the group before everyone went home. The five girls stood in front
of the others, while the rest of the team watched attentively.
“I’ve never worked so hard for anything in my whole life…! It’s all
thanks to Aoi…!”
Each speech was full of praise and gratitude for her.
“I’m so happy I was able to be on this team with…Aoi…and the rest
of you!”
Their words were tearful but positive. That honesty gradually began
to have an effect on Aoi, reaching the soft parts of her that she
hadn’t yet molded to perfection. She held back the wave of emotion
rising within her, staring straight ahead. The other four starters
finished their short speeches, and now it was her turn. She had
naturally gone last, and with her speech, the curtain would fall on
their entire basketball team experience. Everyone was waiting
eagerly for her words. She slowly opened her mouth.

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“…Ladies, thank you for this year.”
She was struggling to make this speech, doing her best to wear the
proper mask of a basketball team captain.
“I was only able to work this hard because all of you came together.”
Writhing beneath her own painful regret, she desperately searched
for the ideal words.
“I don’t think I could have done it with any other team. No one else
would have believed enough to make this fairy tale come true.”
She had to complete her role in perfection.
“We fell just a tiny bit short of our goal, but second place is
incredible, right?”
She had to prove her own rightness one more time.
“Being on the team with all of you this year…”
But as she prepared to conclude her speech, a strange, dark tentacle
of emotion slithered over her mind.
“Being on the team…has been…”
The words caught in her throat as the murky feeling pushed up from
deep inside her, threatening to overflow. All she had to do was say
those beautiful, ideal words, just like everyone else. That was all she
had to do to put a neat, tidy bow on this long, long role she’d poured
herself into over the past year as captain of the Kusunoki Junior High
basketball team.
But she couldn’t finish the sentence.
“It’s been…”
She was not able to share the same emotion as everybody else.
They’d lost. They hadn’t achieved their goal. She could not honestly
say that she enjoyed her time on the team, not by any definition.

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Little by little, she sensed her emotions and thoughts spinning
beyond her control.
“…”
She realized something then. Her eye had always been on something
different from everyone else. She knew that she could not go back to
the person she had once been. She was fundamentally different from
everyone else—there was no one with whom she could share her
outlook on the world.
She realized that large tears were rolling down her cheeks. She
herself didn’t understand exactly why she was crying. All she knew
was that she felt horribly, terribly alone in the world.
“Aoi…?”
The younger girls were starting to cry, too. Needless to say, they had
no idea what was going on inside her at all. But they trusted her so
deeply that the mere sight of her crying was enough to bring them to
tears.
However.
“…Aoi.”
The starters felt something slightly different. Aoi was crying tears of
frustration during her speech, but her eyes held no hint of weakness.
She stared straight ahead so fixedly it was as if she couldn’t do
anything else. She took full responsibility for everything she had
taken on—and she existed on an entirely different plane from them.
Her power was understated but also completely unnatural.
For the first time, the starters were a bit frightened of her. It was the
first time she had exposed herself to them. But the hidden part of
herself that she had exposed, the part beneath the armor of her
performance, was grotesquely strong.
“So, everybody… Thank you!”

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In the end, she finished her speech without saying the words she had
set out to say.
***
Late that night, Aoi sat gazing vacantly at her computer screen.
Beneath the heading “Midterm Goals” was the line of text reading
“Win first place in the basketball nationals.” She had selected the
text, and her finger was hovering above the DELETE button.
“…!”
She was so used to setting and renewing her goals that it had almost
become a routine. Still, in that moment, something within her
resisted pushing the button. Pushing it was the most humiliating
thing she could imagine. It was her first decisive defeat.
How could she possibly be erasing a goal because she hadn’t
achieved it?
Aoi bit her lip and managed to prevent the central pillar in her heart
from collapsing—and tapped the button. The sound seemed to echo
through the room like an explosion. The joint of the finger she’d used
to press the button throbbed slightly. The words were finally gone,
leaving a white space. Her own emptiness materialized before her
eyes. What would she fill it with?
“Aoi?”
Suddenly, she heard a voice calling from outside her door. She took a
breath and answered.
“Haruka, is that you?”
“I was wondering…”
“…What?”
Haruka’s answer was something Aoi could never have imagined.
“…Do you wanna play a video game?”

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“Huh?”
She was surprised. Haruka hadn’t asked her to do something like that
in a long time. Until a few years earlier, the three of them had often
played together, but ever since that day, the sisters had almost never
played video games. Aoi figured it was because she had begun to
focus with such maniacal intensity on her goals. Or maybe it was
because retracing similar memories would lead her to remember the
brilliance of that day, and so she instinctively shrank from it. Anyway,
it was unusual for Haruka to invite her like this.
“Come on, play Atafami with me!”
***
“N-no way…”
“Crushed you!”
The game’s real name was Attack Families, but everyone called it
Atafami. It was the most popular PvP action game in Japan.
Aoi and Haruka were sitting in front of the TV in the living room, each
holding a controller. Aoi wasn’t sure why Haruka had suddenly
invited her to play, but she guessed it might have been an attempt to
cheer her up. That didn’t mean she was going easy on Aoi, of
course—really, she was as intent on winning as she always had been
when the three of them played.
“Oof…”
Aoi stared at the results screen in a daze. Back when the three of
them were all crazy about games for no particular reason, Aoi had
been the best player. Even though she’d only played Atafami once or
twice before, she never expected Haruka to beat her with three out
of four stocks left.
“I can’t believe I lost so badly to a sixth grader!”
“You haven’t practiced enough.”

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“L-let’s go again!”
“Sure!”
But the results weren’t any different from their first game. Her
relative lack of experience with Atafami was entirely to blame, but
still, Aoi couldn’t help feeling disgruntled.
“Argh, damn it!”
“You had that coming!”
“What!! Why couldn’t I hit you?”
“It’s called a spot dodge.”
“I-I’ve never heard of that…”
The battle was lopsided but heated. The third-year junior high
student getting trounced by the sixth-year elementary student
seemed somehow younger than she was and fully invested in the
game.
“I l-lost again…”
“That was easy! I think you studied too much and now you’re bad at
games.”
“Grrr…”
Aoi glared at her little sister. Of course, both of them were still
children. But Aoi had always hated to lose. Being crushed this badly
was incredibly frustrating for her.
Maybe because they were so excited and wrapped up in the game,
they didn’t notice their mother standing behind them. A soapy
sponge in one hand, she was watching them in a trance.
“Oh, Mom!” Aoi said when she finally noticed her there. She felt
oddly embarrassed, as if her mother had caught her doing something

Page | 72
bad. But her mother smiled, her eyes sparkling, and said something
Aoi hadn’t expected.
“…You look like you’re really having fun, Aoi.”
“Huh?”
Aoi was genuinely surprised by her mother’s words. She was losing
game after game to her younger sister—but she was having fun? For
Aoi, who had spent the past several years constantly pursuing victory
and eventually found herself unable to even utter the word fun, her
mother’s comment felt very unnatural.
But her mother wasn’t the only one with that impression. Haruka
was smiling innocently at her, too.
“You really do!”
Aoi loved that smile of Haruka’s—and it made her a little shy. She
started to feel unsure. How did she really feel, inside the mask, in her
innermost heart? What expression was her real self making? Was
she genuinely enjoying her recent loss? She looked down at the
controller in her hands, feeling oddly unsettled.
“…Do I?”
The uncharacteristically uncertain question was directed at herself.
***
After that, Aoi started playing Atafami with Haruka on a regular
basis. Was she simply trying to get better at the game? Or was she
drawn to that emotion she’d felt for a fleeting moment? Whichever
the answer, she got more and more obsessed.
“Hmm…so you figured out that I always jump here…”
She had a habit of sorts. Whenever she was faced with something
that had rules and results, she unconsciously began to analyze its
structure. She did it with schoolwork and club activities and even

Page | 73
with the structure of relationships in her class. In the process of
aiming for the top, she’d become better than anyone else at
analyzing these systems. Of course, she quickly surpassed Haruka at
Atafami.
“Eek! Aoi, you really are the Evil Overlord!”
The strange thing was, no matter how many times she played
Atafami with Haruka, that was the only time that excitement welled
up inside her.
“Heh-heh! I won!”
“You’re too good! How’d you get so good?”
“I’m just a natural, I guess.”
True, she’d beaten Haruka. But that alive, warm feeling didn’t come
from winning.
“Haruka?! No fair…”
“Is too fair!”
“Ooh, if I run this way, you’ll fall off the edge and I won’t.”
“Hey! Now you’re being unfair!”
“Ah-ha-ha. Am not.”
The mood was a lot like it had been when the three sisters had
played together years ago.
“Aoi?”
“What?”
The rowdy game over, Haruka gently set down her controller.
“We used to play games like this a lot…before.”
“…I know.”

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The expression on Haruka’s face was a mixture of sadness and
loneliness. Aoi didn’t need to ask to know what she meant. She
ruffled her sister’s hair affectionately. If she hadn’t, she felt sure the
loneliness would have overtaken her, too.
“…Okay, Haruka! Let’s play one more time!”
“What, really? You haven’t had enough yet?”
Maybe the two of them were running from the loneliness, or maybe
they were indulging in the nostalgia. They played again and again
and again. Three controllers were plugged into the console. But the
sister who used to hold the third one was no longer there.
***
Before she knew it, Aoi was more obsessed with Atafami than
Haruka was. When Haruka was home, she played with her sister, and
when she wasn’t, she played online. It was as if she’d found her
place. Any game might have served the same purpose, as long as she
and Haruka could laugh together as they played. As long as it
uncovered their buried memories and feelings from that other time,
anything would have done—maybe it didn’t even have to be a video
game.
But by chance, Atafami also happened to fit Hinami’s criteria for the
best games. The correct type of effort yielded the correct results,
without unfair flukes or inequalities. Simple rules entwined in a
complex way to form a deeply engaging game. In other words, a god-
tier game.
Each time she dove into it, she felt more convinced that it was as
interesting as real life. Plus, it had the most players of any PvP game
in Japan, so anytime she went online, she could play against other
high-level players from all over the country. She could even tell how
good they were from their winrates. Aoi believed only in numbers

Page | 75
and results, and attaining them was everything to her. There could
hardly be a more perfect way to fill the emptiness in her heart.
Within several months of getting into Atafami, her winrate had
rocketed to the top 0.5 percent, making her inarguably one of the
best players in the country. That was when she realized something.
Ever since the day she decided to do things right, ever since the
moment she realized she needed to win more than anyone else, she
thought she had taken the best course of action. But she had lost the
basketball tournament. Now she knew why.
“…”
No, she had probably known it since the moment she lost. Maybe
she had begun to sense it even earlier, when she was practicing with
the team. She knew why she hadn’t won.
Because she hadn’t been pursuing a personal goal.
Of course, managing other people’s motivations could be inherent to
winning, in a sense. But ultimately, other people were other people.
Controlling them completely was impossible. She suspected that her
teammates had sensed the same thing. They pushed themselves to
the limit for her, but they still couldn’t be like her. They lacked the
same driving force, the same emptiness.
She couldn’t blame them for it. She was simply a different kind of
person than they were.
Aoi stayed in her room playing Atafami like a girl possessed. Her
handle was Aoi. She didn’t have a good reason for making that her
name, beyond the fact that it was the name she’d registered her
console under. She hadn’t felt the need to choose a special name,
and a common name like Aoi seemed just right for diving single-
mindedly into competitions.

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The most important thing was playing Atafami constantly helped her
relieve her regrets slightly. The way that her effort was instantly
reflected in her winrate suited her personality perfectly. It was a way
to prove her impeccable correctness.
“…Whoa, seriously?”
One day, she was paired with a new opponent and felt a jolt of
surprise. She knew that name. At first, she thought her opponent
must be an impostor, but when she saw the number written next to
the name, she knew it really was him.
nanashi Winrate: 2,569
That number was incredible. Of course she knew the name. She was
going up against the best player in Japan, the one who had
consistently held onto the top winrate. Nanashi.
“…Yes!”
A quiet joy bubbled up inside her. She’d been wanting to play him
forever. Gender and age didn’t matter in this simple, fair, incredible
game. This was the top Atafami player in Japan, who had built up an
incredible record. In the world of gaming, he was a monster who did
everything right.
Even though they were playing online, this was still an opportunity to
face off against someone truly worthy of respect. How much of a
fight could she put up?
What did the world look like through his eyes?
Aoi’s own winrate was just over 2,000. She figured there was still
probably a gulf between their ability levels. But based on her
experiences analyzing, attempting, and “conquering” everything
from schoolwork to basketball to relationships, she thought she
might be able to do a little damage. Maybe she could give the
famous nanashi a surprise.

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In the realm of academics, she’d proved herself in various fights
using the methodology she’d cultivated, refining it meticulously.
In the realm of sports, she’d mastered precision moves through
repeated trial and error, improving her firepower to the limit.
In the realm of relationships, she’d won repeatedly at mind games by
using the tactics she’d developed.
This was her pet theory: Anything with rules and results was a game,
life and Atafami included.
And she intended to attack nanashi with everything she’d learned in
the game of life.
Aoi calmed her pounding heart and pressed the button to confirm.
She knew she wasn’t likely to win, but she wasn’t about to let him
beat her for free, either.
She let out a slow breath and concentrated her attention in the tips
of her fingers.
When the game ended, Aoi sat in a daze, the controller still in her
hands, staring at the screen.
“…That was amazing.”
She’d been no match for him. He crushed her. She hadn’t expected
to win; she’d assumed a loss was inevitable. But she hadn’t expected
to completely fail to defend herself at all.
When it came to mastery of fighting techniques, precision of
combos, and reads, which she’d considered her specialty—he’d
dominated her completely.
“…How’d he do it?”
She had been completely outsmarted, made to dance like a
marionette in his palm. He predicted her moves almost as if he were

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leading her into them, and the instant before she chose a given
move, he unleashed the perfect counter.
She had never experienced this before, but it was by no means
unpleasant. She was able to realize something as she played—if
someone worked really hard at it, they could get this good.
“So that was nanashi…”
She was so excited she almost sent him a chat message—but quickly
changed her mind. After all, she was no one in this world. She didn’t
have the right to talk to him on equal footing yet. Instead of sending
a message, she sent a request for another game.
But.
“…Oh.”
A second later, nanashi left the room. Yeah, she was insignificant to
him at this stage.
“…So that’s where I stand.”
Nevertheless, she was elated. Memories of the party after the
basketball nationals, and of her speech, came flooding back. The
loneliness and isolation she’d felt at that moment had left wounds
that still ached. Everyone had been saying how fun it was, except for
her. For her, winning first place had been a genuine goal, the only
thing she wanted. Fun had nothing to do with it. The only things
she’d been pursuing were victory, correctness, and something to fill
the void. Maybe she really was a monster; maybe understanding and
being understood was impossible for her.
But this moment felt completely different.
She thought no one else could put in as much effort as her, or
analyze the structure of things so well, or deal with other people so
shrewdly. But to him, everything she considered “life” was a speck of
dust. To her, that was unimaginable—and that was why her heart

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felt ready to explode with joy. It was the polar opposite of her
experience during her speech after the nationals experience.
This time, she was the one watching the show.
A new sort of hope sprouted in her heart. Maybe the heights she was
climbing toward weren’t so dark and desolate after all. Maybe
someone was waiting up there—someone who had put in even more
effort than her.
Yes. Maybe this person had the potential.

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Page | 81
 Maybe the champion of the most popular PvP game in Japan could
share this loneliness with her.
She knew nothing.
She looked forward to everything.
Maybe if she took off running toward this goal, she’d be able to
reach it this time.
“…Nanashi,” she muttered as she turned off the console and opened
YouTube on her phone. She was able to find a number of videos of
games against him. Whoever posted them probably hadn’t gotten his
permission, but she didn’t care. She added them all to her playlist.
After that, she opened up the Word document she’d been editing.
The void within her popped up on-screen—the blank canvas of her
“Midterm Goals.”
Slowly, she typed in a new line of text.

“Be better than nanashi.”

She closed the document, and burning with this fierce new
determination, she began to analyze nanashi’s play style.
I’ll start by copying him. It’s okay to pretend at first—as long as I
eventually start doing everything right.
After all, the real me died on that day, and the real me is no one.

Which means—

If I’m not here anymore, this name means nothing.

I don’t need to borrow strength from the sun. I’m strong enough on
my own.

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 Okay—
Giving herself over to this feeling of elation, she opened the settings
screen on the console and went to the “name” field. She typed in the
characters one at a time, as if she were carving them into her soul.
She knew she was empty, but that was exactly the point. She would
fill that void with victories she grabbed for herself. She would discard
anything she had received from anyone else and prove through her
own strength that meaning could be given to a void.
She erased the word Aoi and typed in six English letters and one
space.
She was intent on covering her first loss. Her movements were
imbued with much more passion than when she’d deleted the goal
she failed to achieve.
She banged the ENTER key hard with her middle finger, as if she were
planting a flag of decision in her life.
At that moment, NO NAME had no idea that a year and a half later,
she—as Aoi Hinami—would meet the bottom-tier character nanashi
face-to-face.

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Page | 84
3: The girlfriend of the guy I like
It sucks to say this stuff directly, but it appears that I, Minami
Nanami, have been rejected in love.
I have this bad habit of distancing myself from my emotions when
I’ve been hurt. It seems like it should make me feel a little better, but
the truth is, it doesn’t really work. The problem is that I can’t stop
trying to escape reality anyway.
I want someone to praise me, to tell me I did a wonderful thing and
everything will be all right, because after all, I did push the guy I like
toward another girl. I’m not trying to say that anything would be
different for me right now if I hadn’t done that, but they’re dating
now thanks to me. I think that counts as a successful assist—like
when the ref blows the whistle just as the other player makes a
three-pointer. Go, Minami! Except the ball went into my own basket.
I’m an expert on myself, which means I know more about myself
than anyone else does—at least, I think I do, but I’m always tripping
over my own feet. It’s been a problem for a long time. Basically, what
happens is that I think I should do one thing, but then I get in trouble
and give up what I wanted to somebody else. So like, fine,
whatever—at least they got something good out of it, right? But a
part of me doesn’t really think that. I’ve done the same thing millions
of times, which makes me wonder—what do I want anyway?
When I start thinking I’m the only one who ever loses out, that’s a
sign that I’m really starting to spiral into regret. All these little
scrapes and scratches feel like they’re bleeding tears more than
blood—and fun fact! Tears and blood are made of almost identical
components. I try to brush things over with fun little facts like that,
but who am I even trying to fool right now?
I do know one thing, though. First, my head is probably going to feel
fuzzy for this whole winter break. And second, this time I definitely

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lost the thing I wanted. I know, I know—that was two things, not
one, but let’s not get hung up on the details. To me, the two things
are basically one anyway.
So what did I decide to do? Same thing I’ve always done. Go on living
my life cheerfully, happily, and noisily.
***
It was a coincidence, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a small
hunch that it might happen. After all, it’s the kind of place you’d
expect to find her.
“Oh…Nanami-san and Natsubayashi-san…?”
A few days had passed since the school festival party, and we were
getting close to New Year’s Day. Tama and I had been walking
around snow-covered Omiya when we came to a stylish café, and it
happened. Tama was sitting across from me at a table when who
else but Fuka-chan should appear.
“Fuka-chan?”
Incredibly, she was wearing a maid costume and carrying a tray with
glasses of water in one hand. For a second, she looked so perfect I
thought she was a snow sprite, but since we were inside, I decided
that couldn’t be. Which meant she must work here. I stared at her as
she stood there blushing uneasily.
“What are you wearing?! It’s so adorable!”
She had on glasses, which she doesn’t usually wear, and a maid
costume that was a little tamer than the cosplay ones but still
supercute on her. The second I saw her I was just about knocked out.
“That looks so perfect on you! I wish you’d wear that to school!”
“Uh, um…”
“Can I take a picture?! Please! I won’t show it to anyone else.”

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“Um, well…”
“Minmi. You’re putting Kikuchi-san on the spot,” Tama snapped,
obviously displeased that I was bothering Fuka-chan. Then all of a
sudden, she started giggling and shook her head. I love the way her
expression changes from second to second, and she even had
another adorable creature standing right next to her. It was a double
whammy. I wouldn’t be surprised if they charged me extra for this
harem experience.
“I’m sorry about Minmi. So you’ve got a part-time job here?”
“Y-yes.”
While I was incapable of not being a weirdo, Tama was being super
nice to Kikuchi-san. Ever since the thing with Erika, Tama’s been so
kind, and she’s gotten so good at interacting with people. She
doesn’t even need me anymore. I’m happy she’s matured so much,
but she’s still adorable, so I fully intend to continue hitting on her.
“This café is so perfect for you,” Tama said, looking around.
“R-really…? Thanks so much.”
“Um, how long have you worked here?”
“Since the start of second year…”
“Wow!”
I stood by chewing on my finger while the two of them had this nice
conversation. I wondered why Tama was acting a little more
proactive than usual, but I was getting to watch a lovely exchange
between these two for free, so why worry? And I’m an honest
woman, so when I say I was chewing on my finger, I mean I was
literally chewing on my finger.
“Well…I’ll come back when you’re ready to order.”
“Sounds good!”

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“What? You’re leaving? I’ll be so lonely! Come back soon!”
“Um, okay.”
I wiggled with excitement at the confused look she gave me, waving
good-bye as she set the water on our table and left. She returned my
wave sedately, which just made the wiggles worse. So cute!
“This really is a great place.”
“We haven’t even tried the food yet.”
“Oh right.”
I was still excited about our unexpected encounter, but Tama was as
cool as always. Maybe the reason she’s able to stay so calm in the
presence of such an adorable creature is because she’s an adorable
creature herself.
“It really does suit her…,” I couldn’t help muttering. I mean, Fuka-
chan really is cute. She’s so graceful you’d think she was some sort of
aristocrat, and she has this naturally good smell, too. Not like
perfume; more like soap or shampoo or something. Her hair is silky,
but it’s her face that’s so pretty. She’s got all the elements of a
perfect teenage girl, and she’s wearing a maid costume? You could
knock me over with a feather.
“Yeah, well, why don’t you get yourself one?” Tama asked.
I imagined myself wearing a maid costume, but I’m not sure I’d look
so great. Maybe it wouldn’t be horrible on me, but I’d definitely look
like I was doing cosplay. I mean, I don’t have that fairy aura that
Fuka-chan has, and it’s pretty hard to imagine a noisy, rowdy maid.
“Nope, I don’t think I’m the type for it,” I said honestly.
Fuka-chan is all airy and fluffy, with that waifish figure and pale skin,
but at the same time, I feel like she’s got a spine. You could imagine
her as the heroine of some story. She’s totally different from me. I’m
always loud.

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As I was thinking all this, I suddenly sensed something murky rising
up from the depths of my heart. I mean, guys prefer that kind of—
“…Minmi?”
Snapping back to reality, I realized that Tama was peering into my
face. Damn, that was close. I might have become Dark Mimimi again.
Lately, Dark Mimimi has been poking her nasty head out the second I
let down my guard, so I really have to pay attention all the time.
Jealousy and self-loathing pile up like snow in my heart; even if I try
to shovel it out of the way, it ends up sticking around in some corner.
I know I’ve just got to wait for it to melt, but in the meantime, I have
to be careful not to slip and fall on it.
“…What? What’s up, Tama?” I smiled, pretending everything was
fine. Smiling like that is my secret weapon. Even sharp little Tama
usually can’t see through it to what I’m really feeling.
“…Oh, nothing.”
She seemed slightly dissatisfied, but she was nice enough to drop it.
Even if she notices something is off, she won’t ask if I don’t say
anything. Tama’s good with boundaries. I respect that about her.
“You know, you can always talk to me,” she commented. Somehow,
the words were brusque and brimming with affection at the same
time. I think it’s her way of showing her love.
“I know. Thanks.”
I considered telling her what was on my mind but decided not to.
Tama knows I’m close with Tomozaki, but she doesn’t know I told
him my feelings. It’s not that I’m keeping it secret. It’s just that I
don’t want to show her more of my weaknesses and lean on her too
much.
Plus—if I said something now, when Tomozaki’s already dating Fuka-
chan, she probably wouldn’t know what to say.

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“Anyway, what should we order?! Everything looks so good! I’m
starving!”
As I always did, I waved it all away in my usual loud, cheerful way and
examined the menu, which had a sort of trendy fantasy vibe. Tama
nodded and started studying the options with me. I did feel like I was
hiding something from her—but only partly. I mean, I really was
starving.
***
After we finished eating, we hung out and relaxed at the café. The
hamburger I ordered was super delicious, and my only regret was
that the lunch rush meant I didn’t have a chance to hit on Fuka-chan
again. I was feeling calmer by then, so I figured I’d better make up for
lost time.
“Even the tea is amazing!” I said, elegantly sipping my after-lunch
cup of black tea.
Usually, I load it up with milk and sugar, but this café probably had
some kind of special blend. I decided to skip the milk and go light on
the sugar, which turned out to be an excellent decision. The faint
sweetness and rich aroma made for the perfect cuppa. Hee-hee, I
sound like a grown-up, right?
“I know, it’s delicious!” said Tama, who’d ordered the lemon tea.
“The hamburgers here are excellent, and Fuka-chan is cute. I think
we’ve found the ideal café…”
“Just don’t harass the staff, okay?”
Tama-chan never fails to see through to my ulterior motives. It
would’ve been cute if she was saying that because she didn’t want
me to hit on anyone except her, but there was something exciting
about the way she ignored me, too.

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We chatted aimlessly for a few more minutes, then suddenly Tama
stood up.
“I’m going to the restroom.”
“Okay. Want me to come with?”
“No, it’s fine.”
With that, she marched off toward the bathroom. She looked so cute
from behind, I considered tackling her, but we weren’t in school right
now. I know these things have a time and a place.
Sitting there by myself was kinda boring, and I started scanning the
room for Fuka-chan so I could figure out a way to bug her again,
when…
“It was nice to see you today!”
…I heard a crystal-clear voice coming from the entrance and turned
in that direction. Who should I see but Fuka-chan, wearing her street
clothes and saying good-bye to the other café staff. Yes! This was
going to be a piece of cake.
I waved cheerfully at her. “Fuka-chan!”
She looked over and smiled nervously, then slowly walked in my
direction. The perfect chance to do a little flirting!
“Is your shift over?”
“Y-yes, it is.”
I glanced at my phone. It was after three. She’d probably been
working since morning and just finished. Perfect.
“Well, then, my dear, would you like to join us for a cup of tea?”
My cute-girl radar was blaring so loud, I accidentally went for an old-
fashioned pickup line. She seems like the hard-to-get type, so I
thought she’d say no.

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I really did.
But after pausing for a moment, she said, “Um, well…I’d love to.”
There was so much determination behind her expression. Well, this
was an unexpected twist. Wasn’t she nervous to talk to me without
Tama there? For once, I felt a little nervous myself.
“Uh, no pressure. You can say no if you don’t want to,” I said as
nicely as possible.
“Um…it’s fine. I do want to.”
“…Really?”
So she said, but she was obviously nervous, and even though I was
the one who invited her, I didn’t know why she would go so far
outside her comfort zone to accept my invitation. On the other hand,
we’d hardly ever talked before, so it could be a good opportunity—
But as I thought about it, my excitement began to cool. I’d called out
to her on the spur of the moment, but was this going to be
awkward? I mean, Fuka-chan was dating the guy I’d asked out
myself. The whirling thoughts in my head were stirring up anxiety.

Does Fuka-chan know what I told Tomozaki?

If she knows, what does she think about it?
If she doesn’t, should I tell her?
If I tell her…do I have to stop talking to Tomozaki?
As I was mulling over these questions, a woman in her twenties, who
must have been Fuka-chan’s manager, noticed us and came over.
“Oh, Kikuchi-san, is this your friend? I’ll bring over some cake for
everyone, no charge!” she offered cheerfully. Now there was no
going back.
“Oh, thank you so much,” I said.

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“Umm…” Fuka-chan looked back and forth between her manager
and me, smiling uncomfortably. “Okay, do you mind if I sit here?”
She sat down across from me and nervously straightened her back.
“Of course not! Welcome!”
Somehow, her nervousness was spreading to me. Our one-on-one
dialogue had begun.
***
“Um…”
Fuka-chan’s eyes were darting around anxiously, which made her
look even more like a little squirrel or something. I think she was
searching for a topic. Fear not, Mimimi-chan will handle that!
“So! I never expected you and the Brain to start dating!”
Yeah, I was barging straight into the main topic, but this wasn’t the
time to beat around the bush—and I’ll admit, if she did know
something, I wanted to lure her into saying it herself. I know, I’m
sneaky.
“So you think it’s unexpected?” she said, glancing at me
questioningly. Given the topic, I was feeling anxious, too, but I made
an effort to act normal.
“No, maybe not. What I mean is…Tomozaki doesn’t seem to have the
same interests as you.”
Fuka-chan giggled happily. “You could be right. I bet he doesn’t pay
attention to anything he doesn’t like.”
“Exactly!” I said, smiling. “He said it’s ’cause he’s a gamer, but I still
think he’s kind of extreme!”
“Tee-hee. I know.”
“Right?”

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We were really getting into this conversation about Tomozaki. Hey,
wait a second, are we warming up to each other? I was also thinking
that she didn’t seem to know about me and Tomozaki, which I admit
may have been slightly sneaky of me. But also, watching her get so
happy talking about Tomozaki did prick my heart a little. I don’t like
that part of myself, but I can’t hold back Dark Mimimi when she
starts to think like that.
“I have a hard time imagining what the two of you talk about,” I said,
slyly nudging the conversation toward uncovering more about the
two of them.
“What we talk about?” she said, thinking for a moment. “We’ve
talked about the future, the best way to live…”
“Wow, that’s so deep!” I blurted out. Those were lofty topics—but
they did seem like things Tomozaki would talk about. Was that what I
was missing in his eyes? My chest tightened. On the other hand, it
was kind of messed up for me to go out of my way to ask something
like that and then get hurt by the answer.
“Um, has he said anything about me? I won’t let him get away with
gossiping about me!”
I almost asked her straight out what was on my mind. I wanted to
know. The truth was, I wanted to know something a lot more
important than gossip, but I couldn’t help being a little silly to cover
up the seriousness of it. One day the gods will punish me for acting
like this.
“Talked about you…?”
“Yes.”
“Um…”
She thought for a moment, while I quivered in fear of this totally
trivial thing. If she did know everything, then she might have known

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exactly what I was up to. Several tension-filled seconds passed.
Finally, she awkwardly said, “Not really… He just said you walk home
from the station together and you’re friends…”
“Oh, really?”
She didn’t seem to be hiding anything. I was pretty sure she didn’t
know. But at the same time, it was sort of depressing that the Brain
hadn’t talked about me. Knowing him, he probably thought it would
be wrong to say anything to her, but… Come on, Brain, was that all
my confession of love meant to you?! Wait, what am I saying?!
When I calmed down enough to think, I realized it was wrong to poke
around the edges like this. Putting a nice person like Fuka-chan on
the spot really wasn’t the right thing to do.
“Actually…,” I said, deciding to atone for my sin by confessing. “A
little while ago…I told the Brain…that I liked him.”
“What?!” she said in a louder voice than I’ve ever heard her use
before, her eyes going all round.
“Sorry that was so sudden!”
“Oh, no, um…”
Her eyes darted around like she didn’t know what to say. Well, yeah.
She was sitting across from a potential rival, and now she was dating
the guy in question. Of course she didn’t know what to say. They
were dating already, end of story. She couldn’t exactly say, Sorry I
stole him, but she wasn’t mean enough to act totally unfazed. It
really put her in a tight spot.

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Page | 96
“No, I’m the one who lost!”
All I could do at that point was be as loud and cheerful as possible.
“L-lost…?”
“Yeah! I liked the Brain, too, right? But he chose you. It was a battle
of hearts! No hard feelings!”
“Er, battle…?”
“Yes! But don’t worry about it…although I know that’s easier said
than done. I just wanted to do the right thing!” I said in my usual
cheery way, giving her a thumbs-up in hopes of easing the tension.
She gazed at me solemnly. Her expression was still a little frightened,
but her voice was completely calm as she finally spoke.
“Um…I don’t think it’s a battle.”
“Really? You don’t?”
I’d used that word without much thought, but I couldn’t help
flinching at her serious reaction. I know I’ve got a bad habit of talking
without thinking, but I don’t want people to see what’s really going
on in my heart. Trying to hide is just instinct. Actually, I felt like I’d
been spinning my wheels for a while in this conversation.
“I think there are many reasons two people end up in a romantic
relationship…”
“…Uh-huh?”
The way she said it was kind of awkward, but I think it was just
because she was doing her best to treat me seriously. Which meant
that even a sneaky girl like me had to make an attempt to be
earnest.

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“For example, they have similar goals, or they simply enjoy spending
time together…or they complement each other’s weak spots…I think
those are some of the reasons.”
I could see her point.
“I think I get what you’re saying. When I like someone, it usually falls
into one of those categories.”
“Tee-hee. Me too.” She smiled mischievously.
“Wait, so you’re saying you’ve had crushes on lots of people in the
past?”
“Of course! I’m a girl, too, you know.”
“Wow, that’s a surprise!”
We shared a smile, and I felt a little closer to her. Romantic gossip
really was a great way for girls to become friends. Although I kinda
wish it hadn’t started with my underhanded question.
“What you said about complementing each other’s weak spots is
interesting,” I said, sensing that needle pricking my heart again. “…It
probably doesn’t work when the complementing only goes one way,
huh?”
Fuka-chan peered at me with her beautiful, clear eyes. Then she said
slowly, “Is that what happened with you?”
I felt like she’d just seen straight into my heart with that quiet,
overwhelming power of hers. I like to think I’m good at conversation,
but in that moment, I suddenly had no idea what to say. But I didn’t
feel like she’d invaded my privacy—more like she was simply peering
deep inside of me.
Did I just want someone to make up for what I was missing without
being able to offer anything in return? The question was fairly painful
for me to consider.

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“Um, well…”
“Oh, sorry, that was a rude question!”
“No, not at all!”
I was surprised to suddenly be confronted with a question that
reached my core, but it wasn’t rude. She was just being
straightforward—I was the one at fault for beating around the bush.
Plus, if I was going to bring up a topic like this and try to trick her into
revealing information, then maybe I owed it to her to admit a few of
my own secrets.
“I think…,” I began.
“Yes?” she said, listening attentively.
“I think I envied Tomozaki for having such a strong core.”
“Mm…,” she said, nodding before settling in to listen again.
“And the reason I fell for him…was because when we were together,
he made up for something I didn’t have, y’know?” I said lightly.
Fuka-chan seemed to be thinking seriously about what I’d said. “Do
you mean that when you were together, you felt a little bit
stronger?”
“Hmm, maybe.”
“And…you liked yourself more when you were with him?”
“That might be it!”
She really nailed it. When I’m with him, his strength spreads to me,
and that’s why I feel so at ease. Normally, I don’t like myself that
much, but when I’m with him, I do.
“Tee-hee. I know how you feel. Tomozaki is timid, but he’s got that
strength.”
I had to laugh. She got it.

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“Ah-ha-ha. I know exactly what you mean.” And yet breathing was
getting harder and harder.
“Once he makes up his mind to do something, he won’t give up until
he’s done it.”
“…Yeah.”
Weak but strong.
“He won’t change direction just because somebody tells him to.”
Cowardly but sure of his path.
“He believes in himself.”
The thought that occurred to me right then is probably a sign that
I’m a bad person. But there’s no way I can brush over that cold, small
feeling. I mean, I did think it.
I wanted to be the only one who knew how cool Tomozaki could be.
As the person he rejected, I know I shouldn’t be thinking that. He
chose Fuka-chan, so naturally she would know at least that much
about him. Still, that girl inside of me was screaming.
“I…really like those things about him, too.”
“Ah-ha-ha… I bet. Makes sense.”
The more she talked, the worse I felt. I wanted to jam my fingers into
my ears. But I still couldn’t bring myself to dislike her. I agreed
completely with every word she was saying.
I could never hate someone who had so many good things to say
about the guy I like.
“…Yup.”
At the same time, I realized something. The fact that I felt this way
meant that—
“I think I still like him.”

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“…Hmm.”
I decided to tell her the truth. “I haven’t given up on him yet.”
“Yes…that’s what I thought.”
She looked straight at me, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. I
didn’t detect any hostility or anger in her eyes.
“I don’t plan to do anything bad, but I’m going to be true to myself.”
My words sounded more like an athlete’s oath than a declaration of
war. “Is that okay?” I was surprised by how calm I felt after that.
“I don’t think there can be any wrong answers when it comes to
liking someone.”
“Wrong answers?”
That was an odd thing to say. She nodded and continued, like she
was confronting me head-on with her beliefs.
“Some people fall for strong people they look up to, and others fall
for weak people they think they can save. Some people like being
pursued, and some people’s feelings grow stronger out of jealousy.”
“Yeah…I guess you’re right.”
Her words swept over me, as quiet as the woods. I nodded slowly,
but I still didn’t know what she was getting at. I watched her intently
as she went on.
“Whatever the reason…,” she said, pausing to search for the right
words. “If you like someone, it’s not wrong.”
For some reason, she was clearly trying very hard to convince me.
“That’s why…I want to respect your feelings for Tomozaki.”
Now that she’d said that, there was no way I could dislike her.
“…You do? Thank you,” I said, genuinely grateful. I never expected
Tomozaki’s girlfriend to affirm my feelings for him. After a few

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seconds, she seemed to realize something and frantically added,
“Oh, I’m sorry… Maybe it’s not my place to say something like that…”
“Ah-ha-ha. Good point.”
“Right…!”
She was so cute when she got flustered. I couldn’t hate her. If
anything, I was developing a crush on her myself.
“Thank you. I mean it.”
***
By then, Tama was heading back to the table, so we stopped talking
about Tomozaki. Instead, we hung out for an hour or so talking about
the play and entrance exams and stuff before we got ready to leave.
“Well…I’m going to stop at the bookstore, so I’d better be going.”
“Gotcha! Thanks, Fuka-chan—that was fun!”
“Take care!”
As Tama and I saw her off, she waved at us with a smile.
“I had a good time, too! Well, um, bye!”
“Bye!”
“See you later!”
Even as I waved cheerfully, I was swooning inside. Hearing the one
and only Fuka-chan say she had a good time was almost too much
for me.
“That was an odd little get-together,” I commented to Tama as I
watched Fuka-chan walk across the street from the train station.
Tama ignored me at first, but as I turned toward the station, she hit
me with a fastball.
“You had feelings for Tomozaki, right?”

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“What?!” I yelped, looking behind me reflexively. I got into the
weeds with Fuka-chan, too, so I guess it was just that kind of day?
“Wh-wh-wh-why’d you say that?!”
“It’s obvious,” she replied. Apparently, I wasn’t going to be able to
sweep this under the rug.
“Um, well…I did l-like him, but…”
“I knew it.”
She sighed. It’s like she has the mind of an adult in the body of a
child.
“Did everything go okay with you and Kikuchi-san?”
I was thrown off again by her totally straightforward question, but I
could sense how kind she’d gotten compared to before. Interesting.
She decided to bring this up because she saw me and Fuka-chan
talking.
“You were worried about me?” I asked.
“Of course I was. When I came out of the bathroom and was about
to head back to the table, you two seemed to be in some sort of
complicated conversation.”
“Oh…hey, wait,” I said, catching on to something. That must mean…
“Did you kill time until we were done?”
She pouted. “Obviously. I wouldn’t interrupt a conversation like that.
I can read the room.”
“Ah-ha-ha, never thought I’d hear you talking about reading the
room.”
“I can pay attention when I want to!”
“Hmm…”

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That made me happy, but I was also remembering my talk with Fuka-
chan. Basically, we’d shared our true feelings and understood each
other a little better.
“It was fine. We just talked about our feelings. No arguments or
anything.”
“Really?”
“Really.” I nodded, but something was still bothering me. “…Tama,
do you think the reason I liked the Brain…was because I wanted to
lean on his strength?”
“That was a sudden question!”
“Kikuchi-san and I were talking about it—about why I had a crush on
him.”
“Huh,” she said softly, giving me an appraising look. “Do you think
that was the only reason?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her surprisingly direct question was reassuring in a sense, but I didn’t
have a ready answer. Why did I like him? I think my answer was
different from Fuka-chan’s. I looked Tama-chan in the eye, as if we
were analyzing me together.
“…It’s tough getting through everything on my own, but changing is
even harder, so I think I just relied on someone stronger than me.”
Whoops, that was really serious. But Tama just listened with the
same expression on her face.
“But if I was just relying on him, did I really like him? Should I have
even told him? Fuka-chan said it was okay, but I’m not sure.”
I feel like Fuka-chan’s way of thinking is similar to Tomozaki’s, and
their general personality is kind of similar, too. They probably started

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dating for a lot of different reasons. By comparison, I’d started to
think that I just saw him as someone who could carry my emotional
baggage.
Tama listened thoughtfully to my sudden revelation.
“Well, this is just my opinion, but…”
“Yeah?”
“I agree that it’s not always easy to be the one people rely on. It’s a
heavy thing on your shoulders.”
“That sounds bad.”
Her words cut straight into my heart.
“I’m not done,” she said, smiling in a way that felt like a hug.
“I also think being leaned on can be a very warm feeling.”
She tapped my chest.
“So I don’t think you should worry about it too much.”
It was like a weight was instantly lifted from my heart.
“Ah-ha-ha. Thanks. I really owe you one.”
“You’re welcome.”

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Page | 106
As usual lately, she met my serious words of gratitude with a silly
smug look. I love her for that. I actually think I might have a crush on
Tama and Fuka-chan and Tomozaki—so in a sense, I’m a really lucky
girl.
“Ah, life, so full of twists and turns.”
Tama and I kept walking along beneath the cold sky. Snow was still
piled deep along the edges of the streets in Omiya, but the warm
sunshine was gradually beginning to melt it.

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Page | 108
4: Lies and morning glow
They were in an apartment in the Meguro district.
Startled awake by a sudden sensation against his calf, the man
opened his eyes. Rena was lying with her back to him, looking at her
phone. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
“Morning, Rena,” he whispered into her ear, lightly hugging her from
behind. He could feel her supple skin through the thin fabric of her
Gelato Pique loungewear. Her hair smelled faintly of sweat.
“Hmm?” she said in a cutesy voice, then closed the Twitter app she’d
been looking at. Accepting his embrace, she turned her head and
gave him a vulnerable smile.
“…Morning. Did I wake you up?”
“Yeah. I don’t mind.”
“You don’t?”
She wiggled her hips and flipped over so she was facing him. Then
she reached her arms up and laced her fingers behind his neck.
Squeezed between her arms, her cleavage deepened and brushed
the man’s body ever so slightly. She gazed up at him coyly.
“…I was thinking…”
“What?” he asked, revealing his interest as her sultry eyes focused
on him.
“I think you know,” she said. She wasn’t hiding her excitement.
“What are you talking about?” he said, feigning ignorance. She
nuzzled closer to him. Their bodies pressed together, and he could
feel her warmth and softness. Her lips brushed his ear, her breathy
voice tickling his eardrums.
“Let’s do it again.”

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Like a spark fanning into a flame, he pulled her to him, just a little
more roughly this time.
***
Five or six hours earlier, Rena had been in a free space in Shibuya.
The year was almost over, and Tokyo was still blanketed in snow.
Twelve men and three women were gathered in the simple, white
room furnished only with tables, chairs, and a cooking area. They
were there for a real-world meetup for players of a well-known FPS
game.
It was after ten at night. They’d been there for about two hours, and
by this time, everyone was moving around talking to whoever they
wanted. Rena looked around in a haze, her thinking blurred from
drinking.
“You know the video I put up the other day…?”
“I’ll follow you on Twitter…”
As the excited voices ricocheted inside her head, she felt like she was
melting airily into the crowd. The shoulders peeking out from the
cutouts in her oversized black sweater were flushed pink. It was
obvious that she was drunk, but she didn’t mind.
“You been drinking, Rena-chan?”
A man had sat down next to her, set his chin comfortably in his hand,
and started talking; he went by the name Rambo. That was his
gaming handle; Rena didn’t know his real name. He looked like your
typical office worker, probably in his early thirties. He said he edited
online videos. Behind him, Rena saw he’d brought a younger
coworker named Old Man Hippo. Needless to say, this was also a
gaming handle.
“Yes, I have. Haven’t you?” she replied playfully to Rambo, who was
probably a decade older than her. They’d met for the first time that

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evening and hadn’t talked much yet, but Rena was already
addressing him like a friend.
Old Man Hippo watched them from a few steps back.
“Me? Yeah, I’m drinking,” Rambo said, going along with her friendly
tone. He seemed to enjoy it, which was good because it could have
been taken as rude.
Rena was almost elated that it had gone over so well.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Yes, she’d won him over. There was a certain type of man who
couldn’t resist her catlike friendliness, who instantly started fawning
expectantly over her. She knew that from experience.
“I see your glass is empty. Shall I get you something?” he asked in a
vaguely theatrical tone.
“Yes, what are you going to have?” Old Man Hippo said, jumping in
as if he’d finally found a role for himself in the conversation.
Rena smirked a little at his pointless contribution.
“Hmm, let’s see…,” she said, as if she were carefully weighing their
words.
Rambo was watching her carefully. But when she met his gaze, he
quickly glanced away, as if he couldn’t handle it. From there, his
glance flickered to her chest, outlined clearly by the sweater dress, to
her legs below the short hem, before settling eventually on a wall or
his phone. As if she wouldn’t notice.
Old Man Hippo was even worse. He was staring unswervingly at
Rambo, like he was trying to avoid Rena, and hadn’t made eye
contact with her once. Then, when he thought she wasn’t looking,

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his eyes would dart over to her. Rena sighed softly to herself, holding
off on answering their question.
This type again…
“…How about I make you a mixed drink?” Rambo asked, apparently
unable to stand the silence. The flirtatious way he said it—“How
about I make you one?” not “How about we go get something
together?”—brought her out of her drunken haze. She looked at
Rambo with his insincere, uptight expression and at Old Man Hippo,
who was still shooting furtive glances at her, and pasted a happy
smile on her face.
“That’s okay; I’ll go get something myself. Wait for me, ’kay?”
“Are you sure…?”
“Of course!”
What boring men.
Having written them off, she stood up and walked over to the
counter. Her flushed shoulders were bare, while her sweater hid
little of her long legs, and her nude stockings made them look bare.
She glanced back at the two men. Both of them were staring after
her greedily.
I’m the object of their desire.
The thought excited her, and she felt a warm, satisfied sensation
spreading over her lower abdomen.
They want me. But they can’t have me.
As she walked, she tilted her empty glass up to her lips, drinking
down the melted ice. The clear liquid chilled her mouth, but her
chest remained warm. She’d told them to wait for her—but she had
no intention of returning.
***

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Every time Rena came to a meetup like this, multiple guys
approached her. She had regular features that she highlighted with
makeup and a feminine figure that she accentuated with suggestive
clothes and shoes. All of it was selected with men’s desires in mind.
She was slightly annoyed when the guys who hit on her weren’t her
type, but the excitement of being desired far outweighed the
irritation. Whenever they expressed their interest, she inevitably
remembered a cardinal truth: Women always lie, and men are
always honest.

“We get along so well, Rena. I can really be myself around you.”
“Stay away from me, you traitor.”

“I knew it! I knew we’d get along great!”

“Can you believe she told me I shouldn’t worry about it? That’s not
how real friends act.”
“!”
She leaned on the kitchen window and propped her chin on her
palm, scowling. Outside, the snow was beginning to melt on the
streets of Shibuya. Pushed to the edges of the sidewalk and crushed
underfoot into a slushy mess, it reminded her of a person who had
revealed their true self.
She gazed out at it, her mind wandering. The haze of alcohol had
brought forward a memory from three years earlier that she couldn’t
care less about.
She had been seventeen then, still in high school.
She’d already nearly perfected her style, and her classmates—
especially the guys—admired her looks. They didn’t want to date
her, really—just to mess around with her. She was casually aware of
that fact. Wearing her uniform skirt short was an intentional choice,
but the way her gym clothes drew attention to her wasn’t. She was a

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typical high school girl in that she found her feminine body annoying
at times, at least back then.
She belonged to the most popular group, probably because her looks
drew people to her. It wasn’t that everyone in the group got along—
more like they used one another as accessories to strengthen their
own position in the hierarchy. They had an interest in one another,
you might say.
“Ooh, did you redo your nails, Rena?”
“You noticed! Sharp eyes, Shoko! I thought I’d try something a little
bolder.”
“The black and pink looks so cute together. It really suits you.”
“Really? Thank you!”
Every time she talked with someone else in the popular group, they
evaluated one another’s aesthetic, like they were keeping a watch on
each other. She updated her look competitively. Sometimes, they
competed with each other, and at other times, they formed a faction
to gain the upper hand over another group. In a sense, they were
just passing time together.
“Rena, you don’t keep anything secret from me, do you?”
“Why are you asking me that? Of course I never lie.”
“I can trust you that way. I feel like we really get along.”
“You do?”

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Page | 115
Setting aside the question of how deep the other girl’s trust really
was, Rena would have been lying if she claimed the approval didn’t
make her happy.
If anything set her aside from the others, it was her tendency to
really get into her hobbies. Aside from belonging to the popular
group, she also belonged to a group of girls with various obsessions.
One was really into visual kei bands, another was a fan of certain
online gamers who streamed with face cams, and another followed
underground boy bands. Then there was Rena, who liked online
gaming. A handful of these girls, all of whom were attractive and
flashy but had somehow strayed from the norm, had crossed the
boundaries between class cliques to form their own small core
group.
Rena didn’t feel that she was more her real self in one group versus
the other. If she had to put it into words, she might have said that
she needed both groups in order to fit both sides of herself—the side
that was pretty and the side that easily became obsessed with
hobbies—into the school community. However, her unique position
ended up getting her into some minor trouble.
One day, Rena was walking home after school with her classmate
Karen, a member of the core group. She often watched videos on the
streaming site TwitCasting and was a fan of several streamers.
“So does that day work for you?” Karen asked her. “I was thinking we
could do it at my house.”
“Yeah, that’s good for me,” Rena answered.
They were talking about a video game that several members of their
group liked. It was an FPS game you could play on a phone either
online or locally, and they were planning a get-together to play.

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“Awesome. So it’ll be you, me, Kaoru, Chiri, and…”
“Wait, you invited other people?”
Karen had already named the four core members of their group, and
Rena had assumed that would be it.
“Yeah…Keisuke-kun, Makoto-kun, Yosuke-kun, and ‘Yamaken’-san
from the grade ahead of us.”
“Wow, nice! How’d you get them to say yes?”
“Apparently, they’re really into this game.”
“Cool.”
All four boys had gone to the same school as Rena and Karen but
now were in university or working. They’d all been very popular, and
lots of the younger kids had envied them. Rena hadn’t been
especially close with any of them, but their names alone were
enough to make her excited.
A private party with the four of them. And on top of that, they’d be
playing the game Rena loved. She was at a stage in life where that
idea was enough to unleash happy butterflies in her chest.
“Okay, so I’ll leave that day open,” she said in a laid-back tone. She
was looking forward to it.
On the day of the party, she went to Karen’s house. But the scene
that unfolded in Karen’s room wasn’t quite what she had imagined.
A mixed group of eight was in the small room. They’d played a few
games at the beginning, but after that, it had devolved into a kind of
singles party. Some of the girls and guys had their arms around each
other’s waists or shoulders. You’d never have guessed they were
meeting for the first time that day.
“Come over here, Rena-chan.”
“What do you want, Yosuke-kun? Oh well, I guess it’s fine.”

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The situation had gone a bit beyond what she expected, but for
some reason, she felt comfortable there. Of course, common sense
told her this wasn’t pure, innocent fun, and she knew the boys didn’t
really respect her. But she felt like she’d been let in early to the adult
world. That feeling of superiority made her let her guard down.
But a few days later, a problem came up.
“Hey, Rena, I heard you went to Karen’s party.”
“What, you mean with Keisuke and those guys?”
“Yeah.”
She was in the classroom after school when Shoko, a member of the
popular group, approached her sullenly.
“Yosuke-kun was there, too, right?”
“Yeah.”
Shoko frowned. “You knew I was dating him, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but…I thought you broke up.”
She still didn’t understand what Shoko was after.
“That’s not the issue.”
“…What’s the issue?” Rena asked.
Shoko looked obviously angry now. “It hasn’t even been two weeks
since we split up. Don’t you think it’s a little insensitive to go after
someone’s ex that fast?”
“…Is it?” she asked. She didn’t see the problem.
Yosuke was Shoko’s ex, and he had put his arm around Rena’s
shoulder and gotten kind of friendly with her. But what was wrong
with that? She genuinely thought it was fine, but maybe she’d been
feeling even more casual about it because she’d been part of such a

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grown-up party. If anything, it was immature of Shoko to get hung up
about something so minor.
“If you’re not together anymore, I don’t think it matters how long it’s
been.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I don’t know what else to say,” Shoko said, then spun on her
heels and walked off.
“Such a baby,” Rena said, loud enough for Shoko to hear, and Shoko
shot her a nasty look.
Starting the next day, Shoko and her friends acted differently toward
Rena.
“Morning.”
“Umm…”
In the morning, when Rena tried to say hello to another member of
the popular group, the other girl acted uncomfortable, like she didn’t
know what to say. Rena didn’t know exactly what was going on, but
she was a free spirit. Figuring the girl must be sleepy or something,
she turned to another girl without making a big deal of it. The
problem was, everyone acted the same way. Whoever she tried to
talk to in the popular group, they looked awkwardly away from her.
By the time Shoko and every other member had reacted the same
way, Rena understood fully.
She had been ostracized.
They had never been super close friends anyway. In this group,
whose members used one another like accessories, even the faintest
crack could easily break the cohesion. Still, Rena remembered what
Shoko had once said to her. “We get along so well. I can really be

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myself around you.” Those words had made Rena happy, and in a
way, she’d felt she’d found her place.
“Ugh.”
For a little while at least, she would be isolated in her class. She
laughed at the ridiculousness of it.
“…It really is childish,” she snapped, but no one was listening.
After that, Rena was constantly alone at school. She’d always been
strong-willed and upfront about her likes and dislikes, so being
rejected by Shoko and her group was enough to make her lose her
place in the school overall. What she hadn’t expected was that the
members of her core group would gradually begin to avoid her as
well. But their interests had never been entirely aligned anyway.
Visual kei bands, underground rock, streamers, online gaming—
they’d come together to ease their isolation, because no one else
accepted their obsessions. They attracted attention, but they didn’t
have a strong position. They didn’t have the leeway to retain a
member who had been rejected by the popular group. Meaning that
single incident caused Rena to lose both groups she’d felt at home in.
Of course, Shoko probably hadn’t intended to keep shunning Rena
until they graduated. She’d only meant to make an example of her
because Rena had hit her where she was weakest. They should have
found a chance to make up after a few weeks.
But a few days after Rena became an outcast, she began to skip class
and soon stopped attending class altogether. The isolation itself
hadn’t gotten to her exactly, but being alienated at school was much
more unpleasant than she’d expected. When she was in the popular
group, classmates had moved aside obsequiously when she passed.
Now those girls who Rena saw as plain and unattractive frowned and
avoided her if she came near. They talked about her loud enough for
her to overhear.

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“Ugh, she’s coming over here.”
“I sure am,” she would say back, refusing to give in to them. But at
school, unless you had multiple people on your side, turning the tide
wasn’t possible.
“It’s her fault for coming.”
“I wish she wouldn’t.”
“Same here.”
“…”
She could defend herself all she wanted, but she may as well have
said nothing. And she was cuter than them, and her figure was
better! She was far ahead of them.
She frowned and pouted, but no one came to her side. Now that she
didn’t belong to any group, she was suddenly dropped to the rock
bottom of the hierarchy. Anybody watching would have felt sorry for
her. She decided she’d be better off disappearing altogether before
she started feeling it, too.
Once she wasn’t at school, the hierarchy was gone. She had no
reason to meet with her classmates or group members, so they could
no longer force their lies on her with the violence of numbers.
Instead, she began to meet regularly with the guys who had been at
Karen’s party.
“Sorry I’m late, Rena-chan.”
“Should we go?”
Keisuke, Makoto, Yosuke, and Yamaken. Before long, she was close
with several of them, including Shoko’s ex, Yosuke. Eventually, she
started dating Keisuke, their leader.
“Rena, I heard you quit school.”
“Yeah, I did.”

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“Huh… Well, you’ll figure something out. You’re hot.”
“Ah-ha-ha,” she laughed, slipping her arm through Keisuke’s. “…Yes, I
think I will.”
She didn’t feel guilty at that moment, much less pitiful. No—she felt
superior. She’d lost her place at school, but she was second to no
one. All these cool university guys wanted her. She had multiple
strongholds. These guys had been popular since high school, idols of
the younger students. They were far more valuable to her than some
random rules that changed with the whims of the majority, far more
valuable than friendships that only went skin deep.
At school, her place among the girls had been stolen from her. Mood
and words were everything in that realm, and she’d been dragged
through the dirt. But instincts didn’t lie. Guys were forced to show
their true colors when she confronted them with her womanliness.
That’s why she didn’t believe in words—she believed in feelings. Not
logic, only instinct.
Chin in hand, Rena gazed at the dirty snow outside the window. It
was gray and slushy with footprints, but if you cut away the top
layer, fresh white snow appeared again. Liars were the same way—
the first time they met a guy, they showed that innocent, unspoiled
side. Rena stood in front of the kitchen counter, looking around the
meetup. How many of these people were really innocent? As for
herself, she at least wanted to be like honest, dirty snow from the
start.
What a stupid memory. The alcohol had brought back Shoko’s
spiteful face, but Rena chased it from her mind, laughing it off. She
didn’t know what had become of Shoko since then, but such a
boring, stupid person had to be having a boring, stupid twentieth
year. Rena set her glass down on the counter and opened the built-in
fridge. She poured some Campari and grapefruit juice over the ice in
her glass, stirring the cubes with her glittering nails, which faded

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from black to purple. She watched happily as the pretty red and
yellow liquids blended together among the clinking ice.
It was an unusual color. She could see logic melting slowly into
instinct. She took a sip and, satisfied with the flavor, lightly licked the
traces of alcohol off her nails.
“I’m having another, too.”
Rena slowly turned toward the male voice on her right, arranging her
face into a smile. It was Jimmy, another of the participants. In his late
twenties, he wore his dyed-brown hair in a soft, contemporary style.
Each time he moved, a faint scent of vanilla wafted toward her.
“Oh, Jimmy-san,” she said sweetly, scooting over to make room for
him at the counter. The gesture was partly habit, partly a sign of her
acceptance of his overture. At any rate, Jimmy was a popular
YouTube commentator. He was probably the most famous person at
the meetup. She gloated silently over the fact that he’d approached
her, not the other way around.
“What’re you drinking? Looks girly,” he said smoothly in that same
voice Rena knew from his videos. She threw him a vulnerable look.
“This? Campari and grapefruit.”
“I see.”
“Want a sip?” she asked casually, as if they were old friends. She
held out the glass she’d already taken a few sips from. He reached
for it, smiling at her willingness.
“Sure, why not?”
“Here you go.”
He took the glass from her with an equally familiar gesture and
gulped down a mouthful. Rena gazed at him with satisfaction.

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“Like it?” she asked flirtatiously. She detected a glint of curiosity in
Jimmy’s eyes. She had a physical sense for what she needed to do in
order to pique men’s interest.
He held the glass up, clinking the ice cubes, and smoothly replied,
“Not very strong.”
“Wow, heavy drinker?” she said, taking a step into his personal life
while at the same time brushing his back with her hand, as if to
whisper to an even more personal side of him. He smiled casually,
then took a few more sips of her drink, like it was his own. The glass
was already half empty.
“This is good. Tastes like juice.”
“That’s my drink, you know.”
“Oh right, I forgot.”
He’s acting friendly because he thinks my face is pretty, and he wants
to touch my body, and I smell good, and he thinks he can pull this off.
He knew nothing about who she was as a person, but she much
preferred his attitude to false compliments. He followed his instincts
straight toward her body. Plus, he was the most famous person in
the room. She looked at his profile, a teasing smile on his lips, and
thought, I’d like to make him mine tonight.
“Hey!” she said, caressing his shoulder lightly. He flinched, a jolt of
electricity running through him at the ticklish sensation. The sight of
it turned her on.
“Now, now,” he said soothingly, setting his hand on her bare
shoulder. Skin met skin, and warmth passed between them.
“You’re burning up!”
“I am? It’s because I’m drunk,” she said, giggling teasingly and letting
out a sexy sigh. She directed a melting gaze straight at him.
“Jimmy-san?”

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Suddenly, another woman appeared next to him. It was Vanilla,
another female participant, with an empty glass in her hand. Rena
and Jimmy removed their hands from each other and looked at her.
Her hair was cut in a heavy bob, and she was wearing fluffy, girly
clothes. Rena knew she was participating in the meetup as a
musician who performed in videos. A few minutes earlier, while Rena
and Jimmy were talking, she’d been watching them from a far table
with distaste. Inumaru, the other female participant, was standing
next to Vanilla, also giving Jimmy unhappy looks. Inumaru had dyed-
blond hair and was dressed in a somewhat gaudy ensemble of
primary colors.
“What’s with you two?” Jimmy asked a bit grumpily.
“Jimmy-san, should you really be doing that? Your girlfriend will be
mad,” Inumaru whispered at him.
Jimmy frowned and glanced at Rena. Rena had heard what Inumaru
said and was staring at her, expression unchanged.
“Did you come over here just to say that?”
“Well, she’s my friend, too…”
Jimmy and Inumaru started arguing in hushed voices.
“I haven’t even done anything yet!”
“Yet! See, I knew it!”
Rena sighed at the cold water being thrown on her evening, picked
up her glass from the counter, and walked toward the middle of the
room. She wasn’t interested in getting pulled into whatever mess
was brewing.
“Excuse me, Rena-san?” Vanilla said in an obviously hostile tone.
“Hmm? …What is it?” Rena answered, not hiding her irritation.
Vanilla walked over to her.

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“Are you after Jimmy-san?” she asked quietly so Jimmy and Inumaru
couldn’t hear.
“…What?”
“It’s disgusting the way you’re trying to seduce him when there are
so many fans who’d like to spend time with him.”
Rena frowned in exasperation. The criticism was so childish, it
reminded her of the spat with Shoko. Jealous women were all the
same.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you one of his fans?”
“No…”
“This is a meetup for gamers. I didn’t think fans were allowed.”
People like Vanilla always blamed someone else when they thought
the thing they wanted was going to be stolen. They took no
responsibility whatsoever for their own lack of desirability. Rena
thought people like that, especially women, were pitiful.
“…Ugh,” she sighed.
“What’s with your attitude? How old are you anyway?”
“I’m twenty.”
“I’m twenty-five. Don’t you find it strange that you’re ignoring a
warning from an older woman? No one wants to see this.”
Rena was thoroughly bored by Vanilla’s increasingly heated words.
“So are you a fan or what? It’s fine—you don’t have to hide it. There
are lots of people like you out there.”
“…I am not…”
Rena figured she’d probably been nursing a wound ever since Jimmy
approached Rena. She detested jealous liars like her.

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“If you want him, all you have to do is the same thing I’m doing,” she
said venomously.
“You’re disgusting…and anyway, he has a girlfriend.”
Rena snickered, hoping her disdain would carve Vanilla’s heart right
out of her chest.
“You can’t do it, can you?” Rena said, taking a step toward her and
reaching out to pinch her stomach through her airy dress.
“What are you…?”
“You let yourself go and try to cover it up with fluffy clothes. Of
course you can’t!”
“…You bitch!”
Rena ignored her furious response, but the other participants
seemed to have finally noticed the storm clouds developing in the
corner.
“What’s wrong, you two?” one of them said, stepping in to mediate.
“Come on, let’s have a drink and make up,” another said. The men
were gathering around them in a panic.
“Whatever,” Rena said flatly and walked off.
***
Fifteen minutes or so later, Jimmy was sitting at a table with another
participant, apparently having finished his argument with Inumaru.
Rena noticed him, but she didn’t approach him, partly because her
little fight with Vanilla had been so annoying. More than that,
though, she knew he’d come back eventually.
“Rena-san, mind if I sit here?”
“Go right ahead.”

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So she killed time aimlessly talking to the insignificant men, who
approached her completely unprovoked, and filled herself with
alcohol. Really, she wasn’t so much killing time as putting on a
performance.
If you don’t take me, someone else will.
While you’re looking away, I might vanish.
Another fifteen minutes or so passed. Whether from irritation or
impatience she didn’t know, but Jimmy finally walked over to her
with a glass in his hand.
“Sorry about earlier.”
“Oh, that? It’s fine.”
He sat down next to her and tapped his glass lightly against hers.
They shared the quiet clink.
“I didn’t mean for you to have to listen to that.”
“I know.” Rena brought her face close to his. “So you have a
girlfriend?”
Her voice was colder than it had been before.
“Oh…well, we’re not public about it.”
“Hmm.”
She placed her hand softly over his where it rested on the chair. Little
by little, their warmth began to spread into each other again.
“…”
She smiled seductively and whispered breathily into his ear.
“But you came over to me again?”
She wrapped her fingers around his like tentacles, her gesture as
suggestive as her words. Her caress lit a match to his instincts. Their

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entwined fingers were more honest than anything else, and both
were equally hot.
“Didn’t you want me to come over?” Jimmy asked, holding back his
excitement even as his fingers continued to move against hers,
devouring the sensation. She knew his mind must be full of what
came next. So was hers.
“Maybe I did.”
“I thought so.”
Jimmy let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist. She
could feel his muscular, masculine build through her sweater. It was
an indescribably pleasant sensation, knowing she’d made a place for
herself in this valuable realm that the liars with their lily-white masks
would never reach. She was enjoying her flirtation with Jimmy to the
full.
“Yes, this is what I wanted to do,” she said, touching his leg
underneath the table, as close to the hip as she could get away with.
His expression didn’t change, but she sensed his body tense.
“Hmm? What’s the matter?” she asked.
“…Nothing.”
He was still pretending to be unmoved, but his excitement was
obvious to Rena. His grip on her waist grew tighter, and both of them
had broken out in a light sweat.
“Really? I thought I felt you twitch,” she said, sliding her hand
inward. His grip grew even tighter as he pulled her close.
“Mmm…,” she said, much more coquettishly than before, leaning her
upper body against him slightly. “Jimmy-san, you feel hot.”
Instead of answering, he slid his hand up to her side, pressing in
slightly for a better sense of the softness and curve of her waist.

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“So do you.”
“But in my case, it’s because I’m drunk.”
“Well, so am I.”
Simply by moving in a tiny bit closer, she was able to break down the
pretense of having everything under control and brush up against his
more primal instincts. Using her femininity as a weapon, she grabbed
hold of the part of him that could not resist and held his interest.
And he was the most famous person in the room.
He was a powerful branch to land on.
“…Are you now?”
She gazed at him with her sultry eyes; it felt like they were melting
into a single unit.
“So then…we’re both drunk?” she said, pouring the rest of her
cocktail down her throat. A pleasant warmth spread through her
brain, the alcohol washing away her logical self.
“That we are.”
She could hear loud, happy voices in the background. She gave
herself over to the tingly feeling in her hips, and the intoxication in
her head, and the quiet, calm voice in her ear. She could feel her
instincts slipping beyond her control. Finally, with a sense that they
were both falling, she said it.
“Let’s go to your place.”
***
“See you later,” Rena said, drying off her hair and leaving his house.
The sun was already rising, and the thought of getting caught in the
morning rush depressed her slightly. Some of the muddy snow was
still lingering along the side of the road leading to the station. Rena
glanced at it, tried stomping on it once, and was immediately bored.

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When she got to the station, she sat down and checked her Twitter
account. Opening up the message folder in her private account for
mutuals, she found ten or eleven follow requests from guys she’d
met at the meetup the previous night.
“Ah-ha-ha. That’s a lot!” she said happily to herself as she accepted
them one after another. Honestly, she didn’t know who was who.
But the fact that so many guys were interested enough in her to go
to the trouble of sending a request pleased her.
But even better than that…
She looked at Jimmy’s name in her list of followers. He only followed
two hundred or so accounts, even though thirty or forty thousand
people followed him. When she thought about the fact that she was
among the less than 1 percent who got to be mutuals, she began to
shake with excitement. She wondered how many of those two
hundred were women he’d had a relationship with. She felt as if her
identity as a woman had been affirmed by the numbers.
Rena slowly recrossed her legs below her sweater dress. That alone
was enough to make men aware of her. Just then, her phone buzzed
with a Twitter message notification.
“Huh?”
She was surprised to see it was a follow request—from the very
same Vanilla she’d bickered with the night before. She thought about
it for a moment, then figured it out.
“…She couldn’t let it go.”
She must have been unable to ignore the fact that Rena and Jimmy
had left together. After all, she’d been quite stuck on him. Rena
scrolled through Vanilla’s account and found a bunch of tweets
praising Jimmy’s work as a commentator.
“Aha…I knew she was a fan. Liar.”

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She giggled. If another girl lied, all she had to do in return was tell the
truth. So at eight o’clock that morning, half playfully and half
provocatively, she sent the following tweet:

Heading home now.

Ten minutes or so later, Jimmy liked the tweet. Only then did Rena
accept Vanilla’s follow request.

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Page | 133
5: All together now
It was the end of the year, and the snow that had fallen around
Christmas was beginning to melt. I was at Karaoke Sevens, where I
work part-time. But I wasn’t there to work.
“Yesss!! Are we gonna sing or what?! Are we gonna party?!”
Takei was standing in front of everyone in our room, shouting into a
mic.
That’s right. It was the day of the karaoke party with Nakamura’s
group, Hinami, Mimimi, Izumi, and me. The failed karaoke attempt
following the Christmas party had been resurrected as an end-of-the-
year party with the seven of us.
“Shut up, Takei!”
“You’re being so loud!”
Oddly, Takei seemed to be enjoying the insults from Nakamura and
Mizusawa. I think he likes any kind of attention.
“And he’s right to! Brace your ears!”
Mimimi went right along with Takei’s hyperactivity—of course,
without a drop of alcohol in her system. She was holding another mic
and standing near him. Considering that they were this excited
before the singing even started, I had a feeling that I was about to be
left in the dust. But this time, I couldn’t let that happen. Because…
…Hinami had given me another assignment.
“There they go again,” she said, turning to smile at me from her seat
across from Mizusawa, who was next to me. Izumi was next to her,
and Nakamura was next to Izumi, defending his girlfriend.
“Seriously. Hey, Fumiya…we’ve never done karaoke together outside
of work, right?” Mizusawa said.

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“Uh, actually…you’re right.”
Strictly speaking, I’d never done karaoke with friends before, but I
decided not to say that. Hinami shot me a warning glance, then
looked down and started fiddling with the electronic songbook. I’ve
hardly ever done karaoke for fun, but I know one of these is called a
denmoku. I do work here, so I know the lingo.
My assignment for the day was to sing at least one song with each
person there.
I’ve gotten kind of close with these people, and part of me just
wanted to enjoy the party, but I also know that complacency is the
mortal enemy of any gamer who’s aiming for the top. Overall, I was
grateful for the assignment.
“I’m gonna do a Momoclo song!” Mimimi shouted, choosing her
song before anyone else. Pictures from the Momoiro Clover Z song
“Let’s Go! Thief Girls” started to play on the screen. Mimimi stood in
front of everyone and transformed into a star, throwing kisses at her
audience. Well, at least she was having fun. Takei and the other guys
were loving the show. Having Mimimi along for stuff like this really
makes it fun. The music started to play, and she sang along, happily
swaying back and forth.
“Reni, Kanako, Mimimi, Shiori, Ayaka, Minami. ”
“Hmm, I don’t think that’s in the original…”
“Wait, how are there two Mimimis?”
Everyone was getting a kick out of her sloppy lyrical change-ups,
along with Nakamura and Mizusawa’s teasing. Maybe because her
voice is so loud to start with, the performance came off as simple
and good, complete with little asides and fun gestures. She could
probably do a great ballad without even messing around.

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By the way, in the middle of the song there was a lyric that went
“Numbers!” and then Mimimi pointed at everyone in turn.
“One!”
“Two!”
“Three!”
“Huh?”
“Five!”
“Whoo-hoo!”
Where did they all instantly learn what to say? Not in school, that’s
for sure.
“Last time!” she shouted at the end, then she sang out “Yuzu, Aoi,
Mimimi, Hiro, Shuji, Fumiya ,” which was nice, but then Takei got all
sad and asked where his name was. Even though my name was just
part of the list, I jumped when she said it. Enough with the sudden
attacks, okay? Mizusawa and my parents are the only ones who call
me Fumiya.
“Nice job!” Izumi said when Mimimi finished singing, grabbing a
spare tambourine and shaking it.
The initial tidal wave was starting to knock me off my feet, but I had
a job to do. Since this was my first time doing karaoke with friends, I
didn’t even know if I should act excited or talk to people, and now
she’d added something on top of that. This felt like kind of a high
bar, more along the lines of solving a puzzle than using my
communication skills as a weapon.
“Okay! My turn!” Takei said, grabbing the mic and starting to sing
“Love So Sweet” by Arashi. Takei is really built—definitely not
someone who’d get scouted by any famous boy band talent
agencies—so I could only conclude he was an Arashi fan. Just an

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ordinary guy who likes hamburgers, the Shinkansen, and Arashi, I
guess.
As I watched him sing enthusiastically, something occurred to me. If I
was going to sing a duet with everyone, I needed to create a duetty
sort of mood. And it would probably be easiest to create that mood
with Takei.
I looked at the denmoku, my mind racing. I needed a song I
knew…that Takei also liked. As of now, I knew that he liked pork
chop curry, space shuttles, and Bangiras.
Which meant…
I picked up the denmoku from the table, searched for the song I
wanted, and pulled up the request screen. While Takei’s song was in
its interlude, I submitted the request. Then I sat back and waited for
my prey to fall into the trap.
“Ooooh! Awesome choice!” Takei shouted excitedly as the song title
appeared in the upper right of the screen. That was easy. So easy,
the hunt was barely exciting.
“Oh, you like this song, Takei?”
“I love it! Damn, you stole it…,” he said dejectedly.
That’s right—I’d chosen “We Are!” one of the most popular theme
songs from the anime version of One Piece.
“Wanna sing it together, then?”
“Really? Can I?”
“Of course, no problem,” I said, successfully reeling in the first of my
seven assignment targets. Of course, this was kind of a test run, and
the others would likely be harder. I mean, I hardly know any songs to
start with.

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After Takei finished his song, a number by the artist AAA called
“Rainy Skies and Love Sound” came on. I’d never heard of the singer
or the song. Izumi took the mic, and I realized how different our
musical universes were. By the way, Izumi is an amazing singer, with
that normie power to her voice. It was a totally commonplace song
with a bridge I vaguely recognized, but thanks to her talent, it
sounded enjoyably musical.
Next up was “We Are!” Oh crap. I had Takei up there with me, but
still, I’d never sung in front of classmates before. I was getting
nervous. As I anxiously stood there, holding the mic, Takei said to me
in a totally relaxed tone, “Our turn, Farm Boy. Can I do the thing?”
“The thing?”
“The thing at the beginning! Oh, wait—it’s starting. I’ll just do it!”
“Huh?”
I watched him, still not understanding, as he began intoning in a low
voice:
“—Uh, wealth, fame… King…uh, Roger, got everything the world had
to offer! And his words drove countless people to the sea! My
treasure? Search for it! I left everything gathered together in one
place! Just…find it!”
Even me, not your biggest One Piece nerd, could tell he’d totally
messed up the intro narration and left a bunch of downtime at the
end. I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there holding the mic.
Takei didn’t have anything to say either, which made for a fairly
awkward moment.
“If you don’t know the words, don’t do the song!” Mizusawa shouted
with a grin, which actually saved our butts. On the other hand,
Takei’s epic screwup helped me relax slightly.

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 We managed to make our way through most of the duet. Now that
I think about it, it’s kind of sad. My karaoke duet virginity was stolen
by Takei. Am I okay with that?
“~~ ”
One upside was that since he was singing so loud, no one could hear
my voice. I was still super nervous, though.
The song reached its last bridge. Everyone knew the song, and Takei
was singing at the top of his lungs, which made for a generally rowdy
atmosphere. When it finally ended, I let out a long breath. For a
moment, the room was silent as the list of reserved songs popped up
on-screen. That moment between songs is so awkward. I didn’t
notice it after Izumi finished singing, but when my own song ended, I
had a very strong urge to say something like, Sorry to make you
suffer through that…
Mizusawa must have noticed my strained expression, because he
smiled confidently and thumped my shoulder. “Not as bad as I
expected!”
“Yeah? Thanks.”
“Of course, Takei was so loud, I could hardly hear you.”
“Hey!”
By then, the next song had started to play. Guess that’s the deal with
karaoke—every couple of minutes you have a few seconds to talk.
“Lucid Dreamer” by ONE OK ROCK came up on the screen, and
Nakamura took the mic. Hey, even I knew this one!
“Nice choice!” Izumi said happily, and Nakamura nodded back,
actually looking semi-interested. What a nice couple.
He started singing. Turns out his singing voice is as powerful as the
rest of him. He blasted his way through it like a rock star even though
that high register had to be hard to sing. Infinite potential, this one.

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At a few points, he stood up to sing more zealously or do some bad-
boy moves. He’s got an almost childish side that comes out at these
moments. At the same time, song selection does seem to reflect
personality—in this case, a powerful song for a powerful guy. If I
tried to sing something like that, I’d probably be drowned out by the
backup singers.
“Shuji’s awesome!” Takei said, whipping up the crowd by grabbing
the tambourine Izumi-style and starting to shake it. The role fit him
so well I had to laugh.
“…Sounds like the tambourine is Takei’s instrument,” I said.
Mizusawa sniggered from beside me.
“Thanks, dude!” Takei said happily, even though I hadn’t meant it as
a compliment. Oh well, that’s fine.
Mizusawa took the mic next, and “Pretender” by Official Hige
Dandism started to play. That song is super famous, and even I know
the band’s name is weird.
“Ooh, here it comes! Hiro’s version of ‘Pretender’!!”
Izumi, who until then had been cuddling up to Nakamura, seemed
very excited about this development.
“I’ve been waiting for this!” Mimimi said.
“Yeah, it’s not karaoke without this one,” Hinami added excitedly.
Guess he sings it every time. Reminds me how close they all are.
The song started playing. In contrast to Nakamura’s display of power,
Mizusawa took the smooth approach. The song seemed like another
tough one, but he made it sound easy. His voice was fresh and
sweet, the kind that everybody likes. Powerful Nakamura, skillful
Mizusawa, and then Takei—everyone in this normie group had their
distinct personality.
“Wow…”

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Izumi gazed dreamily at the screen. I glanced at Nakamura. He
looked very unhappy. You can read that guy like a book.
Now I was at a loss for what to do. I’d tried to set the stage for future
duets by singing with Takei, but we’d just heard two solos. At this
rate, completing my assignment was going to be tough.
Just then, however, the mood shifted.
“Mimimi, it’s our turn!” Hinami said in the moment of silence
between songs. I looked at the screen. “Chocolate Disco” by Perfume
was up next.
“Here we go! We’ve got this!” Mimimi said excitedly. They seemed
to have some secret plan. The two of them stood up and walked to a
spot in front of everyone. Everyone clapped and I heard an “Ooh, I
can’t wait!” The intro came on—and the two of them started
dancing.
“What the…?”
I smiled wryly. They were doing the same moves as the band
members on-screen, perfectly synchronized. What was with these
people?
They looked like total pros, singing along without even looking at the
lyrics while performing their impeccable dance. Come on, ladies,
what is this? Do you do this every time?
“You guys are so cute!”
“You’re amazing at that!”
Izumi and Takei were both going wild, and Nakamura and Mizusawa
were grinning, too. What the heck? I mean, sure, if two people this
good-looking and athletic sing and dance, it’s going to be fun to
watch, and even I couldn’t help staring. Plus, they were both good
dancers.

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Then I realized something. I thought the duet mood had fizzled, but
everyone had been putting in their requests all along. Given the
timing, Hinami must have put hers in while Takei and I were singing.
With karaoke, there’s a lag between creating a mood and that mood
materializing. Maybe Hinami had taken mercy on me when she saw
me singing with Takei and contributed in her own way.
Anyway, it would be easier to do another duet now. I figured I’d seize
the opportunity by asking either Izumi or Mizusawa, who were sitting
on either side of me.
But how? I couldn’t think of a song that I knew I could sing with
Izumi, and inviting her wouldn’t be easy under Nakamura’s watchful
eye. Seeing her swoon over Mizusawa’s performance a few minutes
ago was enough to make him grumpy, so I have no doubt he’d chew
me up and spit me out if he caught me inviting her to sing. I’d have
to find a chance to do it undercover when he was singing or
something.
I therefore decided to approach Mizusawa first. The vital question
was, what song? I opened the “Top Hits” page on the denmoku,
selected the “Duets” subcategory, and started scanning the list for
something I knew that Mizusawa might get on board with. Aha,
found one!
“…Mizusawa?”
“What?”
I showed him the denmoku. “Wanna sing this?”
“Together?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, but you just sang a duet.”

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My heart skipped a beat. When you’re choosing your moves to
achieve specific assignments, Mizusawa’s sharp eye is downright
terrifying.
“I d-did?”
“Surely now, Fumiya…”
“Wh-what?”
He grinned and pointed at me as I sat there anxiously.
“You’re not embarrassed, are you?”
“Who, me?”
His guess was reasonable, especially given it would be virtually
impossible for him to figure out that I was working on an assignment.
Reassured, I moved on with my battle plan.
“Yeah. That’s why I asked you.”
“You’re hopeless.”
He smoothly snatched the denmoku out of my hands and entered
our song request. It’s probably just a habit of his to seize the
leadership role in situations like this. Confident I was in good hands, I
sat back and let him take over.
By the way, as we were working this out, Nakamura and Izumi were
performing “AM11:00” by HY. It was so revoltingly flirty that I could
see why some people want normies to die in a fire, and I’d rather not
even mention it. But Izumi’s harmonies during the bridge were so
beautiful and Nakamura’s rapping so outstanding it kind of got to me
in spite of myself. I’d never heard the song before, but their version
was so good I figured they must have sung it together at karaoke a
bunch of times before. Which is stomach churning, so I think I’d
rather skip it after all.

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Mizusawa’s and my turn rolled around. We were singing “Gray and
Blue” by Kenshi Yonezu and Masaki Suda. It was famous enough to
be familiar to me—and, needless to say, Mizusawa.
“Oooh, the Mizu-Tomo Band!” Mimimi called out mysteriously.
“Ha-ha-ha, what’s that about?” Mizusawa answered, smiling wryly. I
was too nervous to say anything.
“I’ll sing first.”
“Huh?”
As the first line began, I realized something—unlike my duet with
Takei, this one didn’t involve both of us singing at the same time. We
had to take turns. Which meant the whole group was about to hear
me do a solo. Now I was even more nervous.
Right now, there was a spade symbol over the lyrics. When it turned
into a clover, it was my turn to sing. I know this stuff since I work
here.
“~~ ”
Mizusawa sang the first line, then the second line, and then it was
my turn— Wait, what? Where is it? With the spade still over the
lyrics, the song went into the bridge, and then the bridge ended.
Apparently, the song was divided into parts by verse. Which meant
my voice was going to carry the entire second verse. I knew that
when I signed up to do karaoke, but the prospect was still a little
embarrassing.
“~~ ”
Nevertheless, I sang my part, glancing around the group to see their
reactions. Some people were looking at the denmoku, others were
watching the screen, and no one seemed to be having an extreme
reaction to my performance. Someone had even gone to the drink
bar for refills. Such is life.

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We finished the song without incident, and I put down the mic.
Hinami came up to me, smiling.
“Tomozaki-kun, you were really good!”
Was she talking about the assignment or my performance?
“Oh, thanks.”
I glanced around the room. Apparently, she was going to sing
something with Nakamura, because they were both holding mics.
Now was my chance!
“Midday Sun” by King Gnu started playing. I knew that song, and I
also vaguely remembered that it involved one singer with a high
voice and one with a low voice. That’s probably how they’d split up
the parts.
Hinami started singing—and the mood changed. She’d shifted gears
from “Chocolate Disco” to something more sincere. Filled with sighs
and falsettos and vibratos, her rendition was practically at the level
of a cover. I swear, she really is good at everything… Nakamura
seemed like a fairly good singer in his own right, but even he was
somewhat upstaged by Hinami.
I watched this duet between group leaders for a minute or two—
then, at an opportune moment, I glanced at Izumi. Just like during
what he’d done when Mizusawa was singing, she was pouting
slightly. This was my chance.
“…Izumi?”
“Hmm? …Oh, Tomozaki!”
“Wanna sing something together?” I asked, loud enough for her to
hear me over the music.
“Really? Sure!”

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That was easy. I felt like it had more to do with her general
enthusiasm than her jealousy toward Nakamura, but whatever—she
said yes. The next problem was what song to sing. As I looked at the
“Top Hits” page again, inspiration struck. I’d found it when I stopped
searching within her territory and started poking around in my own
territory for something she would know. I pointed to the denmoku.
“How about this?”
“…Ooh, Demon Slayer!”
That’s right. I chose “Gurenge” by LiSA. Anime is its own world, but
now and then, an insanely popular hit becomes a bridge between
nerds and normies. Demon Slayer is the perfect example. I bet even
Takei and Nakamura watch it, which is saying a lot. By the way, just
because I’m a gamer doesn’t mean I’m some expert on anime. Still, I
know this kind of song better than that sparkly nonsense Izumi likes
to sing. Also, this one was at the top of the list of anime songs, which
just goes to show it can be dark at the foot of a lighthouse. I should
have looked there first.
“I love that song! Let’s do it!”
“Sounds good.”
I input our request, thinking I’d safely cleared the hurdle of singing a
duet with Izumi, when…Nakamura, approaching an interlude in his
song, noticed my request and latched on to it.
“Demon Slayer, cool. Whose song is that?”
I got a sinking feeling.
“Me and Tomozaki!”
“What?”
He scowled at us. He looked super pissed, in fact. Shit. Just then, the
interlude ended, and he started singing again, giving me a brief
window of thinking time. If I didn’t come up with a solution quick,

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he’d grind me up for dinner. But what to do? I strongly suspected
that if I didn’t do anything, he’d say he wanted to sing, too, and grab
the mic, obstructing my assignment. Actually, not just a strong
feeling—I was certain that’s what he’d do.
I was in a tight spot. But I am nanashi, Japan’s top gamer.
In which case, I should be able to come up with a way of turning the
table. I hadn’t wanted to show off my nanashi skills at a time like
this, but I had no choice. Nakamura’s face was so scary, I reflexively
went into serious battle mode. My survival instinct kicked into gear.
It didn’t take long for me (as nanashi) to come up with a solution.
That’s right—I changed a tight spot into an opportunity.
As soon as Nakamura finished singing, I leaned forward and said
loudly enough for both him and Izumi to hear, “How about the three
of us pass the mic around?”
“That sounds fun!” Izumi said, hopping on board right away.
Nakamura’s face went blank for a second, then he gave in and said,
“Fine.” He probably figured it was better than the two of us doing a
duet together.
Nice. I’d not only stopped him from stealing my hard-won chance to
sing a duet with Izumi, I’d also managed to check off two names on
my list at once. Hinami never said I had to sing a separate song with
every person. Right, Hinami-san?
I ended up looking like the third wheel in a duet between Nakamura
and Izumi, but we got through the song. Since Hinami wasn’t part of
the assignment, that left Mimimi.
But in a sense…she was the hardest one of all.
Most karaoke duets are love songs, and lots of songs are about love
to start with anyway. I couldn’t put Mimimi in the position to sing
something like that right now. She’d told me she liked me, and then

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I’d started dating Kikuchi-san. I wasn’t even sure it would be right for
us to sing together at all right now.

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I glanced at the clock. We had around half an hour. At the current
pace, I probably had one or two more turns left. Maybe because the
party was winding down, the mood was calmer now. Hinami sang
“Marigold” by Aimyon, which set off a string of mellower songs.
Mimimi sang “Unfit for Love” by Koresawa, and Izumi sang “366
Days” by HY, and by then, the atmosphere felt really nice. It was like
everyone was singing meaningful stuff. Of course, I was at a total loss
for what to do. Obviously, I don’t have a special meaningful song.
Now Mizusawa was singing “Sparkle” by RADWIMPS, and once again
Izumi was watching dreamily while Nakamura scowled. This was
turning into such a standard routine, I wasn’t even worried anymore.
By the way, before Mizusawa, Takei sang another one by Arashi.
Well, nothing wrong with that.
While Mizusawa was singing, Nakamura was scrolling furiously
through the denmoku. After lengthy consideration, he selected
“Wherever You Are” by ONE OK ROCK. I wondered what took him so
long, but he was probably just looking for a song he could use to
compete with Mizusawa.
“~~ ”
The careful selection process was evidently worthwhile, because
Nakamura’s “special song” was super sappy, and Izumi was swooning
in her seat. Fine, they’re a couple—whatever—but I wish they’d
leave the rest of us out of it. I’d seen too much already.
Meanwhile, we were down to ten minutes before we had to leave.
There was only time for one or two more songs. This was definitely
my last chance. The only person left on my assignment list was
Mimimi. What should I do? I’d been thinking about it while everyone
sang their special songs.

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How could I set up the right situation for us to sing together? Would
it be awkward? I ran through various possibilities in my head and
decided to take a gamble.
I touched the denmoku screen, submitting my request.
The words “Choral song: Leaving on a Journey” appeared on the
karaoke screen. I watched to see how everyone reacted.
“…Oh, nice one, Brain!!”
“Awesome, Farm Boy! I’m in!”
I’d successfully hooked Mimimi, as well as Takei, who I’d suspected
might fall for my ploy as well.
“Should we all sing it together?” Izumi asked.
This was exactly what I’d hoped for: an ensemble number that we all
sang together.
Working here, I’ve observed groups of students finish up their
sessions like this a number of times. I could see how this would get
us going more than a solo as the last song. Plus, I’d achieve my
assignment of singing with Mimimi. After all, I’d sung with Nakamura
and Izumi as a threesome, so I already knew it didn’t have to be a
duet. Call me sly, but it’s really Hinami’s fault for leaving a loophole
in the rules.
Anyway, we all sang the song, which means I sang with Mimimi and
my assignment was complete… Right, Hinami-san?
Mizusawa and I had shifts at Karaoke Sevens after that, so we stuck
around while everyone else left. Now that I thought about it, even
though I’d been struggling to get my assignment done for several
hours, doing karaoke with a group of friends was pretty fun.
Mizusawa and I went into the changing room to kill time until our
shift started, and I composed a LINE message to Hinami.

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[Since Mimimi was part of that last number, it counts as completing
the assignment, right?]
I sent the message off, feeling smug, then waited for her to respond.
Heh-heh, what do you say to that, NO NAME? This is how nanashi
fights: by changing the rules. I imagined her expression of defeat as I
sat there waiting. After a few minutes, her response came.

[Sure, it counts, but in that case, you could have just sung the one
song and skipped all the others!]
“…Doh.”
Now that she mentioned it, I realized she was right. Since everyone
sang together at the end, all my struggles to set up individual duets
were meaningless.
“…Huh.”
“What’s up, Fumiya?”
“Oh, uh, nothing, nothing.”
Even though I’d completed an assignment, a mysterious but
unshakable sensation of defeat hovered in the back of my brain.

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Page | 153
6: An angel in the kotatsu
December 31. New Year’s Eve.
I was sitting under the blankets of our kotatsu table at home, eating
satsuma oranges. My head was filled with all the changes that took
place this past year. For someone like me, who lived alone in a
colorless world for most of my life, those changes have been almost
too vivid. The dazzling colors and heart-shaking emotions were
enough to take this shy girl’s breath away, yet everyday life has
become so much more fun.
What makes me happier than anything is knowing that it’s not the
world that’s changed—but me.
So there I was, holding a piece of satsuma in one hand and my cell
phone in the other. When did I start eating while I was on my phone?
Isn’t that bad manners? Well, I don’t think I’d have experienced the
excitement of waiting for a message notification unless I lived in this
new world, and that feels important to me.
I had fruit in one hand, and my other hand was waiting for a sweet
message.
This mix of happiness and anxiety feels unnatural, but I think in truth
it’s completely natural.
My world really has changed since the days when my inferiority
complex and uncertainty piled up like snow, darkening my view.
These days everything is so full of light.
And what caused this change? The person my left hand is waiting so
eagerly to hear from.
“Fuka, Mom says she’s not putting mochi in the soba noodles!”
My little brother Riku came running out of the kitchen and sat down
next to me. He’s in his first year of junior high, four years younger

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than me, but we’re still as close as ever. It’s hard to believe, since at
school he’s so outgoing he’s even head of school spirit for Athletics
Day. I think he shows a slightly different side of himself at home and
at school. Everyone does that, even me—we have different selves for
different situations.
“Mochi doesn’t go in New Year’s Eve soba!” I told him.
“Really? It doesn’t?”
“No. It goes in the soup on New Year’s Day.”
“Ohhh, you’re right!”
It’s cute how easy it is to convince him of things. I stroked his hair
affectionately. “Stop it!” he said, but he didn’t try to escape, which
makes me think he didn’t actually hate it all that much.
“By the way, Mom just told me something!”
“What’d she tell you?”
“That you have a boyfriend! Gross!”
“What…?”
I can’t believe he just said that. I knew he’d tease me about it, which
is why I didn’t tell him in the first place, but now that he found out,
he’s accusing me of things I’d never do!
“I am not gross!”
“But having a boyfriend means you do that stuff, right?”
“N-no…I haven’t done anything yet…”
My face was getting unbelievably hot. Just imagining it makes me
dizzy, but—
“Oooh, you said ‘yet’!”
“R-Riku!”

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He was right. What I said made it sound as if I assumed we’d do that
stuff at some point. On the other hand, it’s not as if it will never
happen. I’d just been avoiding thinking about it.
“D-don’t say that!” I scolded him.
“Eeew, you’re so gross!”
“S-stop it!”
I don’t have the chance to practice conversations like this at school
very often, so he runs circles around me. I’m not sure what to do
about it. I think this is something only boys talk about, so it’s
inevitable that I’ve got a thin skin on the subject. Or maybe I’m just
telling myself that so I don’t feel bad.

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Page | 157
“Riku! Come in here!” our mom called from the kitchen, having
overheard our conversation.
“What?” he called back a little grumpily. He stood up reluctantly but
nevertheless did as he was told. That’s what’s so cute about him.
“Oh, Fuka, are you having soba with us?” he asked as he was about
to disappear into the kitchen.
“Yes!”
“How hungry are you? Should I give you a lot?”
“A normal serving is fine.”
“Okay!”
With that, my mischievous, nosy brother went in to help our mom
serve up the food. I started to tidy up the kotatsu table. Dad was
shut up in his office because he said he needed to finish up some
work, but he does that every year, so I’m sure he’ll pop out half an
hour before midnight.
It was already eleven. The year really was nearly over, and I could
sense the new one approaching.
After checking the time, I set my phone facedown on the table and
reached for the copy of On the Wings of the Unknown that was
sitting next to it. As I flipped through it, red marks leaped out at me
from every page. I’d marked it up with notes so that my directions
during rehearsals would be clearer. Thinking back on it, I realized
that everyone had been working hard to realize my own personal
vision. That really was a gift. The script was evidence of that period in
my life, and it was the most valuable treasure imaginable to me.
“Ah…”

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My eyes happened to fall on a scene featuring Alucia, one of the
heroines. The red notes mentioned Natsubayashi-san’s direct gaze
and Hinami-san’s bloodcurdling performance. The story I’d created
came together onstage in an unbelievably ideal way, and I’m certain
it contained more than the characters themselves.
I’d been trying to convey something in that scene. I read through it
again slowly.

“I don’t think I have a favorite thing.”

Alucia smiles sadly while speaking. Kris is flustered.
“What? I—I mean, you know so much! You’re so good at making
things, and you’re even great at magic! I bet you like lots of things!”
“Not really. I’ve got royal blood, and one day, I have to be queen…
That’s the only reason I work so hard. It’s not because I enjoy it.”
“You said it’s the only reason, but it’s an amazing one! Compared
with you, I don’t have anything.”
“That’s not true.”
“I want to be like you, Alucia.”
Alucia frowns.
“—Like me?”
Alucia stares at Kris.
“I think your view of me is mistaken, Kris.”
“It is?”
“I’m not the wonderful kind of person you think I am.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have everything. But—”
Alucia turns to the audience.
“—that’s exactly why…I have nothing.”

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As I read it, the performance of the scene streamed through my
mind, like a scratch mark throbbing in my heart. The last line was
particularly resonant. The vacancy of those words was like a knife, as
if they contained the true Alucia—and even more. I felt as if Hinami-
san herself had said those words.
Or maybe I’m not saying it accurately. After all, I included those lines
specifically because I knew Hinami-san would be playing the role.
“I wonder if I got it right after all…,” I mumbled, thinking back to the
previous week.
Had I gone in too deep? I still didn’t know.
***
“Fuka-chan?”
Hinami-san had approached me at the end of the party to celebrate
the school festival, amid the happy chatter of our classmates and the
savory smell of charred sauce at the okonomiyaki restaurant.
“…Hinami-san?”
I was quite surprised. On that day, I’d spoken with more people than
usual, and I’d begun to feel I was learning to open up a little, but
something about Hinami-san felt off when she came up to me.
“Great job today…and on the script.”
“Um…same to you. Great job playing Alucia.”
The two of us were standing apart from everyone else, in the hallway
by the bathroom. She could have talked to me anytime during the
party, but the fact that she started the conversation there indicated
she wanted to talk alone.
“Thanks. The script was so good,” she said smoothly, as if the
thought had just occurred to her, but I suspected she’d planned to
bring up the script from the start. I’m not sure why I thought that.

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Maybe it was an intuition, maybe an assumption, or maybe my own
image of Alucia. Maybe even the things Hinami-san said when
Tomozaki-kun and I interviewed her led me to that conclusion.
Whatever the answer, I sensed something at that moment.
“Thank you so much. It was difficult to write…but I think it came out
well.”
“Ah-ha-ha. I’m glad to hear that.”
She grinned and met my eyes. I’m not sure why—there was nothing
whatsoever in her expression to suggest an ulterior motive—but it
frightened me.
“I thought it was really interesting, too.”
She hadn’t said anything strange. But there was something in her
tone—like the echo of water dripping in a dark cave. A loneliness, a
feeling of isolation.
“Thank you…so much.”
“I wanted to ask you about Alucia…,” she continued, hardly waiting
for me to finish my thank-you. Her expression was cheerful and
happy and friendly, but at the same time, I didn’t feel free to move
away from her.
“Alucia is an empty person, isn’t she?”
“…Yes.”
“Interesting.” She glanced down, then looked me in the eye again.
“And she pours herself into various things because she’s trying to fill
that emptiness?”
“Yes.”
The unexpected direction of the conversation startled me, and I tried
to figure out her motivation for asking me these questions.

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“I believe she said…that she had everything, which was exactly why
she had nothing.”
“…Yes, that’s right.”
She glanced down again and swiftly licked her lips.
“Well, I interpreted that line in my own way during the performance,
but I was wondering what you meant when you wrote it.”
Why was she asking me this? Of course, it could have been pure
curiosity, but I sensed that wasn’t the case. After all, I modeled the
character on Hinami-san herself. When I created Alucia, I knew it
might shake her…and perhaps a part of me even hoped that it would.
The truth is, I was interested in the thoughts and emotions of this
seeming sorceress who brought color to Tomozaki-kun’s world—and
in the face beneath her mask.
“Um…”
That’s why I chose my words so carefully. For myself as well as for
her, I wanted to explain my image of Alucia as accurately as possible.
“Alucia…has nothing that she truly likes, so she can’t validate herself
internally,” I said, using the mask of the story’s main character.
“That’s why she wants some kind of proof that she’s on the right
path.”
“Proof?”
I nodded. “For example, it would be easy to believe that some made-
up story proved her worth, but she’s too strong for that and too
smart… She can’t believe in flimsy fairy tales.”
“And that’s why she strives to be the best in martial arts and
academics?”
I nodded again. “…Yes. She finds meaning in the things that the
world tells her are valuable.”

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“Interesting… I see.”
She frowned, glancing away for a second. I can guess why, but I don’t
know the real reason.
“And…does Alucia realize that about herself?”
I hesitated for a moment, but I had an answer.
“I think…she does realize it. She knows she looks perfect from the
outside, but in reality, she has nothing. That’s exactly why she
confesses the truth to Kris.”
Hinami-san nodded, a satisfied look in her eye.
“So that’s what those lines meant.”
“…Yes,” I said. “That’s what it meant about Alucia.”
She nodded silently several times before responding. “Why did she
become like that? Why did she end up so empty, without anything
she liked?”
Answering that question was slightly difficult. I didn’t know why she
was asking, for one thing, but the reason was only something I
imagined for the story. Nevertheless, I tried to explain it to her as
accurately as I could.
“I think…it’s because she was born into the royal family.”
“The royal family, huh?”
This was all in the realm of imagination. “She was born to be a
queen, so everything she does is assigned an external value of good
or bad.”
I asked myself, if there was a girl somewhere in the world who was
empty inside…

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“She had to constantly ask herself, not ‘what do I want to do,’ but
‘what is the correct thing for a princess to do?’ That way of thinking
was firmly rooted in her.”
…What sort of environment could have produced that mental state
and value system?
“I think the only goal she was able to find for herself was submitting
to the rules of that world.”
I tried as hard as I could to imagine, and to get to the deepest part of
the character’s heart.
“But when she stopped believing in that world, she was left
with…nothing.”
I tied all the pieces together in my own world and wove them into a
story.
“So she ended up hollow inside…”
That was how I understood Alucia’s motivation.
Hinami-san blinked in apparent surprise.
“…It’s amazing that you thought so deeply about it.” She glanced
down pensively, then redirected her powerful gaze at me. “You said
you did some interviews…didn’t you?”
“Um…yes.”
This was another unexpected turn in the conversation. She was
asking about the interviews Tomozaki-kun and I conducted about her
own past.
“Did you learn anything? About me…and my circumstances?”
What came to mind first was her younger sister. But we hadn’t heard
anything specific. Only that she’d had two younger sisters, who she
was close with in elementary school, but by middle school, one of
them had disappeared. I didn’t know exactly what had happened,

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only that something surely had. I didn’t know how open I should be,
but I decided to tell her the truth.
“I heard that your younger sister—”
“You heard?”
Her voice ripped the air. I was truly shocked. The look on her face at
that moment was exactly the same as Alucia’s the first time she saw
the dragon: sharp, unwavering, and strong enough to strangle me.
Those eyes, so black they took my breath away, pierced my heart.
“N-no…only fragments and speculations…”
“What fragments?”
“Um…only that when we talked to your friends from elementary
school and from junior high, they talked about different sisters…”

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Page | 166
“…I see.”
“I—I…I’m sorry… It’s none of my business.”
She stared at me expressionlessly for a moment, and very briefly, her
black eyes wavered.
“Does Tomozaki-kun know?”
“…Yes.”
“Really. I see.”
That was all she said. After that, her usual expression returned.
“Oh, I’m sorry to bring this up so suddenly. The play really was
wonderful! Excellent work, really!”
“Th-thank you.”
“Well, I’ll be off, then!”
She turned and walked away, leaving me feeling incredibly uneasy.
***
I looked down, realizing I’d dropped the piece of satsuma orange I’d
been holding.
“Oops…”
Luckily, it fell onto the peel, so I picked it up, stared at it for a
moment, then popped it into my mouth.
Thinking back on my conversation with Hinami-san had brought up a
mix of emotions. I’d fleshed out Alucia’s character with her in mind.
Was it really the right decision to talk about her inner story with
Hinami-san? Should we have conducted those interviews about
Hinami-san’s past, delving into her personal history? Once something

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was discovered, it couldn’t be hidden again. What did she really
think? Only she knew the answer to that question. But if you’re going
to poke around in someone’s personal life, you have to be ready for
the consequences. Had I thought enough about that beforehand?
“Fuka, the soba’s ready!” Riku called from the kitchen, breaking my
reverie. Returning to reality, I called back.
“Great, thanks!”
I went into the kitchen, and we each picked up two bowls of soba to
bring back to the kotatsu. The fragrance of the smoky broth, the
pieces of duck perched atop the warm noodles, and the wisps of
steam rising from the bowls were the perfect accompaniment to the
end of the year. Dad appeared from his room to join us, Mom came
out from the kitchen, and the whole family settled in around the
kotatsu table.
“What a year this was,” Dad said.
“Yes, it certainly was a roller-coaster ride! To think that Riku became
head of the school spirit squad and Fuka wrote a play for the school
festival!” Mom added.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t go to your play, Fuka. Was it a success?”
“Yes, it was. I have the script if you’d like to read it.”
“I’d love to read it later. After work calms down a bit…maybe at the
end of January…”
“Tee-hee. You sure are busy, Dad.”
Moments like this with my family mean more to me than anything in
the world.
After we ate our soba, we waited for the clock to strike twelve.
“Fuka, it’s almost midnight!”
“Oh, you’re right…twenty more seconds!”

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In a prayerful mood, I watched the numbers count down on the TV
screen. This really was a wonderful year—and that’s why I wanted
the next one to be even better.
And I wasn’t just wishing—I was determined to make it that way.
With less than ten seconds left until midnight, Riku started shouting
out the numbers excitedly.
“Four, three, two, one!”
“Happy New Year!”
All four of us clapped our hands, welcoming the new year. We do the
same thing every year, but somehow, the scene this time seemed to
be splashed with more color than usual.
“…Oh!”
Just then, my phone buzzed. I looked down.

[Happy New Year, Kikuchi-san.

I’m looking forward to visiting the shrine with you tomorrow.]
It was the LINE message from Tomozaki-kun that I’d been waiting
for. I squeezed my phone.
“Ewww, you’re acting so girly! Gross!”
“I t-told you…”
“Gross…?! Fuka, what is your brother talking about?” Dad asked.
“Riku, I told you to keep it a secret from your father!”
“A s-secret?! F-Fuka, what is this s-s-secret?!”
“Um…it’s not…”
“What’s n-n-not?!”
“Darn it, Riku!”

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And so my New Year began, a little more chaotically than usual but
full of exciting hopes.
I glanced out the window. In the light shining from inside, I saw that
the heavy snow piled thickly on the garden had melted clear away.

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Afterword
It’s been a while. Yuki Yaku here.
Nearly four years have passed since I started this series, and here we
are at the tenth volume, which certainly deserves celebration. I’d
never have made it this far without the support from all you, my
readers. As an author who’s sold a million books, I extend my
sincerest gratitude.
In addition, as the author of a series that’s been adapted as an
anime, I want to write even better stories in the future, which is to
say, I believe it is my mission as an author who sells an average of a
hundred thousand books per volume to convey as fully as possible
the appeal of my characters.
Anyway, thank you! The Tomozaki series has broken the one million
mark!
And that’s not the only thing I have to celebrate. The special edition
of this volume includes the first CD dramatization of the series, and
in May, a spin-off manga featuring Mimimi as the main character will
launch. The anime version has been officially announced and is
getting closer to broadcast. The comic version is in progress as well.
You can take your pick! I’m deeply grateful for all these
developments.
As you might guess, with so much going on, these have been very
busy times for me. In addition to the basic work of writing the story,
I’ve had to learn to switch gears between everything from working
on the audiobook and the manga to attending script meetings. You
could say I’m traveling various roads parallel to the main road, or if
you wanted to put it in terms of the first color page in this collection,
you could liken my work to the delicate variations in the shades of
black that the artist has used for the hair of the three Hinami sisters.

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I can practically hear you saying, There he goes again, but just hear
me out. What I want to emphasize is that all three girls are in
elementary school in that picture—which means their hair has to be
black, not dyed. Black absorbs all colors and has no color itself. One
would think that as a result, creating variation would be difficult.
And yet take a look at that illustration. There’s a brownish black, a
bluish black, and a pinkish black. The shades are so fresh one would
never call them the same simple black, but still they fall within the
boundaries. What a splendid job the artist has done in distinguishing
these colors. I hope you can see how this excellent depiction leaps
effortlessly over the typical challenge of portraying sisters. Sisters are
blood relatives. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean they look
alike, drawings of sisters tend to depict them that way. The picture of
the three Hinami sisters is no exception. Although there are slight
differences related to their ages, the key elements of their facial
features and hairstyles have been drawn to resemble one another.
The similar part in their bangs and color of their eyes is especially
striking. They are sisters, so naturally, their standout features are
similar.
You could say that the same thing goes for hair color. Realistically
speaking, they’re related, so they’re all going to have black hair. In
the world they inhabit, on the far side of the printed page, their hair
is probably the exact same color. And yet, in the pages of this book,
Fly-san has conjured up a splendid paradox.
Yes, that’s right. In the world the three sisters inhabit, their hair is
the same color, but when they are brought to life in our own world,
the magic of color renders their black hair “the same but different.”
And that is not the only noteworthy point. If I asked you which one
was Aoi, who would you choose? …I thought so. Somehow, you knew
the answer. Of course, the text says she’s the oldest sister, so

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perhaps you decided based on her height. But what if you didn’t
know that? Yes—you still would know which was her.
I bet you know why. It’s because you’ve already got an image of Aoi
Hinami as having that paradoxical pinkish-black hair, isn’t it? And the
paradox stands in this illustration. In other words, the artist has
connected two isolated worlds through the use of color. A miracle in
black.
I hope I’ve managed to communicate my thoughts. With that, I’d like
to move on to something unusual—a note on one of the short stories
in this collection. Specifically, I’d like to discuss the fact that I’ve
never clearly stated the year in which the Tomozaki series takes
place. The reason I didn’t is because I wanted to depict a certain kind
of fictionalized “now” that incorporates bits and pieces of the ever-
evolving time we live in, as if the novel is constantly providing a
window onto the present moment. However, in the story “All
together now,” the songs that the characters sing, along with their
other words and actions, allow the reader to figure out more or less
when the story takes place. Therefore, I’d appreciate if you could
interpret it as a kind of parallel or hypothetical—a story about what
would happen if this group of characters in their second year of high
school happened to go out to karaoke at the point in time when this
volume was published. Next year and the year after, they’d probably
sing different songs at this same year-end party, right?
Now on to the acknowledgments.
To my illustrator Fly-san, Iwaasa-san is going to send you some
macaron cookies, but don’t eat them. I suspect they contain a poison
designed to make you want to draw limitless quantities of
illustrations. Also, I’m a big fan of yours.
To my editor Iwaasa-san, looks like I made the deadline with ease
again this time, eh? Ha-ha. I’ll try to do the same next time as well.

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To my readers, I think you’ll be surprised by the many new turns the
plot is about to take. I hope you’ll continue reading, because I’m
really looking forward to expanding the story. Thank you for all your
support.
Finally, beginning on the next page, you’ll find a “bonus track”: a
short story version of the audiobook CD included with the special
edition. Enjoy! I hope to see you again in the next volume.

Yuki Yaku

Page | 174
Page | 175
Bonus Track: The virtual reality
adventure of Tomozaki the Warrior
I excitedly removed a machine about the size of my two hands from
its box.
“So this is what the latest virtual reality headset looks like… It’s
lighter than I thought… Wow… So futuristic…”
I was holding what looked like a pair of oversized goggles in my
hands. Apparently, Mizusawa had been selected as a beta tester, and
our usual crew was supposed to play an online game today using
these headsets. I was super excited to try out the latest VR game.
“We’re all supposed to log on at five… Oh shit, it’s already 5:02! …So
I guess I, uh, put this on my head and press that button?”
Muttering to myself, I slipped the headset on, felt around for the
button on the side, and held it in for a few seconds. A futuristic
sound blared near my ear.
“Wow!”
I passed through a gate made of light and emerged in an imaginary
Western-style living room. When I moved my head, my view of the
room changed exactly as it would if I were really right there, and the
image quality was way higher than I would have expected for a
goggle display. I felt like the technology was almost too advanced.
How’d they even do this?
As I was going into shock over just how cutting edge this thing was, I
suddenly heard Hinami’s voice.
“…Hello?”
“H-hello…?” I answered timidly.

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“That sounds like the Brain’s voice! So you finally showed up!” I
heard Mimimi answer.
“Sorry. That you, Mimimi?” I asked, a bit surprised by this barrage of
voices. It seemed as if the space before my eyes was supposed to be
my room in the game, and now other characters were there. Hmm.
So we were supposed to be communicating by phone or ESP?
“You sure are late, Fumiya. Aren’t you the guy who loves games?”
That was Mizusawa. His I’ve-got-everything-under-control tone came
through loud and clear even over the headset. The ultimate top-tier
character.
“Y-yeah, but I’ve never done VR before… I was geeking out over the
gear, and I lost track of the time,” I answered honestly.
“I swear, Tomozaki-kun, you’re hopeless,” Hinami said in a teasing
tone. She sounded kind of like her real self, which was annoying, but
I suppressed my irritation and apologized again. Damn you, Hinami! I
can’t do anything now, but you better watch out later!
“Ah-ha-ha. He likes games so much he was late!”
A new voice had joined the conversation: Izumi’s.
“Oh hi, Izumi, you’re here, too? I figured you wouldn’t want to
bother with the setup.”
“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? My mom helped me out.”
“Is that really something to brag about?” I teased, used to talking
through the headset by now.
With most of us assembled, Hinami took the lead. “Hinami here.
Who’s ready to go?”
“Oooh, Takei here! Ready and eager!”
“Uh, Yuzu Izumi here! I can hear you!”

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“Ha-ha-ha. You don’t have to copy them, Yuzu.”
“Um, is that so, Hiro?!”
“I’m ready, too. Come and get me!”
As everyone checked in, I heard a new, uncertain voice.
“Umm…can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear your adorable voice, Tama!”
“No need for the commentary!” Tama-chan shot back with her usual
sharpness.
Mimimi giggled.
“Wow, this headset is incredible! I can’t believe we can talk between
houses like this!” Takei said, slightly out of step with everyone else.
“Uh, actually, you can do that on a phone,” I answered.
“Geez, Takei… Anyway, is everyone ready?” Mizusawa asked.
“I sure am!” Mimimi answered. “I’m so excited to try VR for the first
time! And the newest model, too!”
“So you’re a tester for a game they’re developing? You’re so lucky!” I
said.
“They must know I’m a cool guy.”
“You’re so annoying, Hiro!” Izumi said, laughing.
“But we can go inside the game, right?! Aren’t you guys psyched?!”
Takei said.
“They do seem to be using the latest technology. I have to admit, I’m
excited, too,” Hinami added.
“And it’s an RPG with swords and magic, right?! That’s, like, so
exciting!” Takei answered.
Tama-chan laughed. “Ah-ha-ha. Yeah, I can see you liking that.”

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“I love it!”
I smiled wryly, then brought up something that I’d been wondering
about.
“It feels so futuristic. I wonder if this’ll mess with our brains.”
“That’s…a scary thought…,” Izumi said. Just then, a bell chimed to
announce a new participant.
“H-hello…?” said a beautiful, fleeting, fairylike voice.
“Oh, that sounds like the adorable Fuka-chan! I’ve been waiting for
you!”
Hinami followed up Mimimi’s exaggerated welcome with a gentler
one. “Looking forward to the game!”
“Me too! Thank you for inviting me. I’m sorry to be late…”
“No problem! Did you have trouble connecting?”
“Um, no, I was able to connect… I just didn’t know how to join the
conversation…”
Mizusawa and Hinami jumped in to reassure her.
“Ha-ha-ha, I completely understand!”
“Yes, of course!”
“Hey, that’s not the reception I got!” I joked, since they’d just
scolded me for being two minutes late. I felt like all I was doing was
making jokes.
“But what about Shuji? Since Fuka-chan is joining us, I really wish he
could be here,” Izumi said regretfully.
Mizusawa laughed. “He said he doesn’t have Wi-Fi at home, so what
can you do? It’s an online game.”
“Yeah, you really do need Wi-Fi for this. You’d burn through your
data in a second otherwise!”

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“All he ever uses his phone for is social media… Anyway, I think we’re
all here, right?” Mizusawa asked.
“Let’s see…me, Yuzu, Tama-chan, Fuka-chan, Mimimi,” Hinami said
like she was taking attendance. “And then Takahiro, Takei, and
Tomozaki-kun… Yup, that’s everyone.”
“Okay. Should we get started?” Mizusawa asked, taking the lead.
“Sounds good,” Izumi answered.
“The game is on!”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
A start menu floated in front of my eyes with buttons like START GAME
and OPTIONS.
“Okay, so I choose START GAME and…oh shit!!”
The second I made my selection, a tornado of light swallowed up the
world.
***
“Uh, okay…ouch… Where am I?”
When the light receded, I was standing in an open meadow. Wind
was blowing, rustling the grass. The graphics were way better than
on most games, and when I moved, my avatar in the game moved in
tandem, almost seamlessly. Wonder how it works.
“A meadow with nothing in it…?”
I heard a weird sound behind me, like a time warp, and then the
sound of something heavy falling. I whirled around in surprise.
“Huh?”
Mimimi was sitting on the ground. She stood up, rubbing her butt.
“Owww! Where am I…? Is that you, Brain?!”
“Hey, Mimimi… What are you wearing?”

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“What?”
She was dressed in shorts and a tube top, with a green cape tied
around her neck. She also had on elbow-length gloves and a small
leather bag secured to a belt around her waist. Her legs and stomach
were exposed, and she looked very, uh, fit.
I looked away from her as I answered, “You’re dressed like a robber
or something.”
She looked down at herself.
“What the heck?! You’re right! These shorts are barely there!”
“And you’ve got a bandanna or something around your head… They
said this was an RPG, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Which means you’re a thief.”
As I was talking, it finally occurred to me to look down at myself. I
could see armor and a sword and shield. Classic RPG stuff.
“If I’ve got armor on…am I a soldier?”
“You like more like a warrior to me.”
“S-seriously? Don’t tell me I ended up as the main character!”
“Ah-ha-ha. You’ve always got the best luck.” She thumped me on the
shoulder.
“Not sure if it’s good luck or bad…”
“Seriously, though, this game is amazing! We look totally different!
It’s almost too real!”
We looked around at the unbroken expanse of green.
“…But what is this place? A grassland?” Mimimi asked.

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“Oh, I bet it’s the meadow they typically have at the beginning of
games. Seems like…we’re the only ones around, huh?”
“Yeah. Does that mean we’re the only two who started from here?”
“Seems like it… Hey, what was that?”
Just then, the grass rustled. I turned toward the sound and found a
sticky blue monster hopping toward us and howling menacingly.
Who knows where it came from.
“Pigii! Pigii!”
“Eee! A monster! It’s all wobbly and gross!” Mimimi said.
“Uh, doesn’t it kind of sound like Takei…?”
Even though there was some kind of effect on the voice, it did sound
like him—or rather, it was him.
“Yeah, but what is he?”
“Well, this is the first monster to appear, and it’s blue and wobbly…
Sounds like slime to me.”
“You’re so calm, Brain!”
“Yeah. This is kind of a standard thing. I bet we’re in the tutorial right
now. There’s no way we’ll lose, so let’s just relax, okay?”
“Doesn’t that kind of take away from the fun?”
“What are you talking about? Analyzing the metagame is part of the
fun these days.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but really?”
I felt like a fish in water as I explained our situation. Mimimi seemed
to only understand around half of what I said, but she crouched
down and, from what I could tell, got ready to fight the monster we
were facing. She’s a natural.
“Pigii!”

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“Ack! Oh boy, here it comes!”
“Let’s do this!”
Our first battle began, along with an upbeat battle theme.
“Uh…how do we fight? I don’t see any commands…”
“You called it a tutorial, but who’s doing the tutoring?”
Just then, I heard a faint, kind voice.
“Tomozaki-kun! Nanami-san!”
Mimimi craned her neck around, confused.
“Where’s that voice coming from?” I asked.
“Over here!”
“Where?” I scanned our surroundings, searching for the owner of the
voice.
“On your shoulder!”
“My shoulder… Argh!”
Mimimi and I found her at the same time. A tiny Kikuchi-san, dressed
in white and sporting a set of wings, was hovering over me.
“Are you a fairy that looks like Kikuchi-san?”
“Um…hello,” the fairy said.
Mimimi and I returned her greeting.
“H-hi.”
“Hello!”
“Um…my name is Fuka. I’m a fairy who helps everyone on their
adventure…apparently,” Kikuchi-san said hesitantly, flitting lightly
around us. Just seeing her was enough to fill me with gratitude.
“I guess that’s one way for the game to work…”

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“Oh my god, she’s so cute! She’s even littler than Tama! So
adorable!!”
“Uh, um, cute…”
“She could fit in my palm! I can’t stand it! It’s too perfect! Brain,
starting today, I am Team Fuka-chan.”
“Uh, okay…”
“Um…? Thank…you?”
Neither of us knew how to react to Mimimi’s excitement—except for
Takei, apparently. “Pigii!! Pigii!”
“Takei… I mean, the slime is pissed off!”
“I think he’s upset because we’re not including him in the
conversation,” Kikuchi-san said, taking pity on him. The slime hopped
up and down like he was agreeing with her.
“I wanna be part of the party, too! Pigii!”
“Hey, you just talked in human language!”
“So Takei ended up as a monster…,” Mimimi mused, sounding
confused. I looked at poor Takei and considered the game.
“Interesting. So not everyone gets to play an adventurer.”
“I suddenly became a fairy, so I bet it was the same for Takei.”
“Yikes. Becoming slime is a horrible fate,” I said, laughing wryly.
“Wh-what should we do? He’s a monster, but he’s still Takei?”
Mimimi asked in a panic.
“You’re right… I think we should take him down at once!” Kikuchi-san
said decisively.
“I didn’t know you were such a hawk! Maybe we can make friends
with him!” Mimimi shouted in surprise. I was surprised, too.

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“Yeah…he might be a trash mob, but he is Takei.”
“Yeah, don’t forget that!” slime-Takei jumped in.
“He’s talking just like us!”
Mimimi was obviously thrown off by the flood of events. In real life,
she can handle anything, but that didn’t seem to be the case in this
game.
“Grrr!!” the slime with Takei’s voice said, hurling himself at me. You’ll
pay for this, Takei!
“Oof!”
“Brain!!”
“A-are you all right?!”
I stepped back, rubbing the spot where he’d hit me. But…what the
heck was I feeling?
“Yeah. It doesn’t hurt…but my head feels sort of heavy or
something…”
“Your head feels heavy?”
“Um…I think it’s because your PH fell!”
“You mean that’s what it feels like to lose HP?”
“Oh right, HP…”
“This game is really well designed!”
“Pigiiiii!!”
While we were talking, slime-Takei had rapidly puffed up and started
howling again. Dude, shut up.
“Eee! He’s getting angry again because we’re leaving him out!”
“Pigipigipigipigi!”

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Hopping forward at lightning speed, he hurled himself at us again
and again. This was getting ridiculous.
“He just attacked us like four times in a row!”
“He has multi-attacks?”
“He’s stronger than I thought!”
“I know, this is one hell of a high-level slime…”
Mimimi and I jumped back a few feet, but slime-Takei hopped
toward us again.
“…No, I don’t think that was multi-attacks, just four hits in a row!”
“What a meathead…”
I slumped, disappointed, but Kikuchi-san refused to let us ease up.
“Nevertheless, he’s still a threat. If you two don’t do something,
you’ll lose the game!”
“As a gamer, I can’t let myself lose to slime…”
“As a human, I can’t let myself lose to Takei…”
Reacting to Mimimi’s comment, the slime began boiling underneath
its skin so that round welts bubbled up all over it.
“Pigiiiii!!!”
“Nanami-san, I don’t think it would be wise to provoke Takei-kun any
further!” Kikuchi-san warned.
Just then, light began to concentrate in the slime’s body with a
keening sound. What was happening?
“Oh no! I think he’s getting ready to do something bad!” Mimimi
shouted.
“It’s a powerful spell used by slimes… If this plays out according to
theory, it’ll be one of the most powerful spells out there!”

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“An endgame spell?! In the tutorial?!”
“This is bad! You’ve got to take him down while he’s preparing!”
Kikuchi-san shouted frantically.
Mimimi glanced around like she didn’t know what to do. “But how?!”
“Nanami-san, use the knife in your belt! Tomozaki-kun, use the
sword in your back holster!”
I drew the sword. “This? O-okay, got it!”
“I don’t think he can defend himself right now!”
“Pigi?! Pigii…pigii…”
The slime must have seen where the situation was headed, because
the tone of its voice changed.
“I th-think he’s getting weaker…”
“Pigi…pigi… I’m scared…”
A look of pity gradually came over Mimimi’s face.
“I feel so g-guilty…”
“I kn-know,” Kikuchi-san agreed.
But I’m more used to gaming than either of them, and I kept my cool.
“Remember…it was Takei who attacked us just now.”
“That’s true…”
“I’m sorry, but this is for the sake of world peace! I’m gonna do it!
Yaaa!” I thrust my sword straight into the slime.
“Pig…pigi…”
Its voice faded, and the slime vanished. Sorry, Takei.
“Takei is gone…,” Mimimi whispered sorrowfully.
“I—I think it was the right decision… Maybe,” Kikuchi-san said.

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“What’s with this lingering guilt after the battle?” I asked, frowning. I
didn’t get why we had to feel so bad about Takei.
“Eee!”
“Whoa!”
Just then, Mimimi and I shouted at the same moment.
“Wh-what’s the matter?” Kikuchi-san asked.
“I j-just…,” I began, looking down with trepidation at my body, “…felt
something kind of ticklish…”
“Oh, I think that’s called… Wait just a moment, all right? Here goes!”
Kikuchi-san stretched out both hands in front of her and prayed
fervently. A book about the size of her body appeared.
“Something just materialized!”
“What’s in that book?”
“It’s the rule book…or at least, that’s what I call it. It’s got detailed
information about various parts of the game.”
Using both hands, she struggled to flip through the book floating in
the air before her. So precious.
“…Oh, here it is. A level-up!”
I thought about what had just happened. “So leveling up tickles?”
“Yes. And it looks as if you kind of wish for it, a screen will
appear…and you can check it there.”
“Kind of wish for it…? Like this? Ta-daa!” Mimimi said. A blue, board-
looking thing appeared in her hands.
“Wow! It’s like a tablet!”
The three of us stared at it. There was a list of words like “Item,”
“Status,” “Save,” and “Options.” Which meant…

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“…This must be the menu screen in RPGs. We can see our status and
items and other stuff.”
“And there’s a map!”
“Yes, that’s right. Um, according to the rule book…the other players
are playing their own roles in other parts of this world. Just like you
two are a warrior and a thief, I’m the explanation fairy, and Takei is
in the ‘other’ category.”
“The ‘other’ category?” I echoed pityingly. At the same time, I
couldn’t help thinking it was perfect for him.
“So should we go look for everyone else?” Mimimi suggested.
“Yeah, that sounds like a good goal to start with,” I answered. “How
about we head for this port? It looks nearby on the map.”
“I think that’s an excellent plan!” Kikuchi-san said.
“Okay! Let’s go!” I said, and Mimimi chimed in with a “Yeah!”
She started walking, looking at the map as she led the way.
“Follow me, noble adventurers!”
“…Uh, Mimimi? It’s that way.”
“It is?”
Turns out her sense of direction in the game was just as bad as in
real life.
***
We moved forward following the map and eventually reached our
destination.
“Well, here’s the town… It’s so quiet…,” Mimimi said.
“And so pretty and clean,” Kikuchi-san added.

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We looked around. The atmosphere was subdued, with rows of
similar-looking buildings. I thought about the standard risks in games
like this. We seemed fairly safe for the moment.
“Yeah, nothing fancy, but I don’t see a single piece of litter,” I said.
“So that must mean it’s safe? Hey, is that Tama?” Mimimi asked.
“Voices really carry far in a quiet place like this…,” I said. Just then, a
man walked out of an alley toward us.
“Oh, there’s someone else.”
“Hello!” the man said smoothly. “Welcome to Shuberg!”
That voice and expression were awfully familiar…
“Is that you, Mizusawa?” I asked. The man tilted his head,
confused—but he was the spitting image.
“Mizusawa? What exotic Eastern name is that? I am Bell, mayor of
this town!”
“He looks and sounds just like Takahiro to me,” Mimimi said.
“It’s definitely Mizusawa-kun,” Kikuchi-san agreed.
“Come now, a mere chance resemblance. Pay that no mind,
Mimimi.”
“You just used my name!”
“Mizusawa sure is putting the RP in RPG,” I said.
“Forget about that. Just listen to what I have to tell you.”
“Fine,” I said, nodding reluctantly as Mizusawa, aka Bell, grasped
control of the situation.
“So…what did you want to tell us?” Mimimi asked, switching gears.
“Welcome once again to the town of Shuberg! We open our arms to
adventurers! Please relax and enjoy your time here!”

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“That sounded super scripted…but hey, at least we’re welcome
here!” Mimimi said happily.
“We didn’t have anywhere to stay, so this could be perfect,” I added.
“Yes, you’ll be able to recover from your recent battle,” Kikuchi-san
said.
“Right?”
“All right, we’ll take you up on that offer!” I said to Bell.
“Then follow me. Fumiya and Kikuchi-san, watch your step.”
“He’s literally Mizusawa.”
“Definitely.”
***
“Make yourselves at home in here,” Bell-slash-Mizusawa said when
we reached the large room in the inn that he’d led us to. I looked
around in surprise.
“This place is huge, and there’s six beds…um, Mizusawa?”
“The name is Bell.”
“Okay, Bell-san. There are three of us…well, two people and one
fairy. You don’t need to give us so much space. Also, we don’t have
any money.”
“Ha-ha, no need to worry. You don’t need money around here.
Please just take it easy.”
“B-but I feel bad—,” I started to say, when I was interrupted by
ecstatic voices.
“Braiiin!! This bed is so soft! Wheee!”
“Look, Tomozaki-kun—there’s a bed just my size! It’s so warm…!”

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Oblivious to my polite hesitation, the two of them were fully
enjoying their beds. Oy.
“…Never mind. Thank you.”
“Ha-ha-ha! You’re most welcome.”
Just as we were wrapping up our conversation, a knock came on the
door.
“Ah, I believe your meal is ready!” Bell said to my surprise.
“You’re feeding us, too?!”
Kikuchi-san and Mimimi leaped up from their beds to thank Bell.
“Th-thank you so much!”
“Count on Takahiro to do it right!”
“It’s Bell, not Takahiro. All right, enjoy your rest,” Bell said, slipping
out as the food was brought in. From beginning to end, he was 100
percent Mizusawa.
“Well, he was really into that,” I said.
“Yes, I think he’s enjoying himself,” Kikuchi-san added.
“Oooh, this looks like a feast! Steak, salad, even soup!”
“It does!” I said. “But I wonder…what will happen when we eat it?
Does taste exist in VR?”
“Yes, I wonder… Oh! There’s one in my size, too!”
“They think of everything in this game… Let’s eat!”
“My thoughts exactly! Let’s eat!” Mimimi said.
“Let’s eat!” Kikuchi-san and I chimed in, diving into our meal.
“It’s not so much tasty as…”
“It’s like…a pleasant feeling, isn’t it?” Kikuchi-san said.

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“Yeah, almost a ticklish feeling, but not in a bad way… A little like
when we got the level-up earlier.”
“You’re right!” I agreed.
“Is that how it felt?” Kikuchi-san asked.
I nodded.
“Yeah, I think it’s the same feeling…which must mean everything
positive, like leveling up or recovery, feels like this.”
“Oh, I get it! That’s what I imagined a VR game would be like!”
“How strange… Eating is ticklish now…”
I was getting excited, even though I didn’t understand how the
overall system was set up. “Yeah, this game is amazing… I wonder
what’s coming next.”
“Ah-ha-ha. Makes your gamer’s heart skip a beat, huh?”
“Something like that. I’m itching to try everything out.”
“Well, should we finish off this meal and then go to sleep so we’re
rested for tomorrow?” Kikuchi-san proposed.
“You mean recover? I’m all for it!”
As we got ready for bed, I thought about the scenario.
“Sleep, huh? I wonder how time works in this game.”
“Oh well…according to the rule book, everyone in the party gets
under their covers and closes their eyes for a few seconds, and then
it’s morning and they’re fully recovered.”
“Ah-ha-ha, sounds like an RPG,” I said.
“What?! I wanted to sleep in this fluffy bed for hours!”
“No way! That’d be a waste of a good adventure!”
“Tee-hee. You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, Tomozaki-kun!”

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With that, all three of us lay down on our pillowy beds.
***
And then it was morning.
“Good morning!!” Mimimi shouted.
“Wow, you’re perky. Didn’t you say you wanted to sleep for hours?”
“I know how you feel,” Kikuchi-san said. “I only closed my eyes for a
few seconds, but somehow I feel so refreshed.”
“Yeah, I know… I guess this must mean our recovery is complete?”
“Could be! Okay! Let’s get this adventure started again!”
“Tee-hee. You’re so full of energy, Nanami-san.”
With our strength back, it was time to head to our next destination—
which was a problem.
“…We don’t know where anyone else is, and we don’t even know our
objectives.” I was starting to feel lost.
“Well, according to the rule book…the goal seems to be to rescue the
world from the control of an evil demon.”
“Sounds like a beta version of a beta version to me…”
“Well, it is a demo, so it seems they’ve simplified it quite a bit…”
“So for now, we focus on killing the evil demon? Got it! Leave it to
Minami Nanami! I’ve got this!”
She was about to race out of the room, but I stopped her.
“Wait, wait! This may be a demo version, but our level is still too low
to face the final boss, and our party is too small!”
“It is?”
“At the very least, we need someone who can use offensive magic
and someone who can heal.”

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“You can’t, Brain? When I looked at the ‘Status’ category or
whatever, I think there was something about MP. So that must mean
magic points?”
“I’m a warrior…so I should be able to use it, but my level is low… I
think we’d be better off with someone who specializes in that.”
“So you’ll start by searching for the others after all?” Kikuchi-san
asked.
“Yeah. But first of all, let’s get out of here.”
“Got it!”
***
As we left the inn, Bell-slash-Mizusawa came out to see us off.
“Beautiful morning, isn’t it? Well, everyone, best of luck in the
battle,” he said and vanished into the building. We hadn’t paid him a
cent.
“…He really did give us everything for free,” Mimimi said, sounding
conscience-stricken.
“Yes…” Kikuchi-san nodded.
“He said the town welcomes adventurers, but I wonder why he did
all that for us.”
I thought about it for a minute, but I couldn’t come up with a good
answer. Hmm.
“Well, it’s Takahiro we’re talking about. I can’t help thinking he had
some ulterior motive,” Mimimi said. “He even gave us all weapons
and armor and recovery items, and then he told us how to get to the
next town.”
“I doubt he decided to do all that on his own… Maybe since this is a
demo version and this is the first town, they made it easy for training
purposes?”

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“You mean, it doesn’t have to do with the story itself?”
“Yeah. But given how high the quality is, it seems like there’d be
some other reason for him to be kind to adventurers—some reason
related to the plot.”
I thought back on other games I’d played, searching for an answer.
“Maybe, but this town is so quiet, and everyone looks so happy… I
don’t feel like any crisis is going on here.”
“I know…”
“But what do you think that means?”
“…As far as I can figure out…,” I began, having hit on an idea. Mimimi
looked at me curiously. “He gave us a place to stay and equipment
and items, so we don’t need to stop at shops for any of those things.
And he told us the way to the next town, so we don’t have to ask the
townspeople for information… Which makes me think…”
“Oh, I see,” Kikuchi-san said, figuring it out herself.
“Wait, what? Tell me!” Mimimi said.
“If you think about it…what if Mizusawa—I mean, Bell—doesn’t want
us to talk to anyone else in town?”
“…What?” Mimimi asked, sounding confused.
“What he means is…Bell is trying to prevent us from finding
something hidden here,” Kikuchi-san explained.
I nodded.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Mimimi said. “If we get our information and
items from him, we won’t need to talk to anyone else, and we can
head straight to the next town.”
“…Which means that if we poke around here, we might discover
something,” I said.

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Mimimi suddenly looked excited. “Maybe we’ll find everyone else!”
“That’s a possibility.”
Kikuchi-san smiled, too, like she was getting more interested in
playing.
“Well then…shall we stay here and look around?”
“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” I said, and we set off to explore.
***
After a little while, we spotted a townsperson walking down the
street.
“Excuse me!” I called.
“Yes?” the townsperson answered casually.
“…Is this guy Takei, too?” I muttered, but the townsperson just tilted
his head.
“Takei? Who’s that?”
“His voice sounds different,” Kikuchi-san said.
“I guess there are NPCs, too.”
“NCPs…?” Kikuchi-san echoed.
The townsperson scowled angrily at us. “I’d appreciate it if you don’t
confuse me with Takei.”
“Oh, wait, I think this is Mizusawa,” I said, almost certain I was right.
“He loves acting, doesn’t he!” Mimimi agreed.
“If it’s Mizusawa, I bet he’s a bad guy.”
“You’re not being very kind to Mizusawa-kun…”
Ignoring our conversation, the townsperson addressed all three of
us. “Are you adventurers?”

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“Um, yes, we are. Takahiro…I mean, good sir, do adventurers come
to this town often?” Mimimi asked.
“Oh, yes,” he began fluently. “I’d say they come through about once
a week. But Master Bell takes care of them all, so they’re soon on
their way to the next town.”
“As I suspected,” I muttered.
“Yes, and that’s why we’re always on schedule.”
“On schedule?”
“What, you don’t know about the Schedule? Well, that explains why
you look so lost. I understand now.”
I sure didn’t. I frowned, as lost as Mimimi.
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“Are you interested…in the essence of happiness?” the townsperson
said.
“Um, uh…,” Mimimi said in a fluster.
“Oh, I’m very sorry. It’s almost sundown, and today at sundown, I’m
supposed to discover a girl in town causing mischief. I’d best be
going.”
“What? Oh, um, you are?” Mimimi said.
“Good-bye, then. Thanks be to Master Bell and the happiness
promised to us.”
Just as the townsperson was about to leave, a youthful voice called
to us.
“Guys!!”
We turned around.
“Tama?!”

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“Hey, it’s Tama-chan!”
“Natsubayashi-san, you’re here, too!”
Meanwhile, the townsperson’s expression turned severe. “What
have we here? Young Hanabi, you’re not following the Schedule. It
seems you intend to betray us after all.”
“Oh…no…,” she said, backing away fearfully.
“And these must be your fellow traitors?”
“Wh-what are you talking about?”
Mimimi looked back and forth between Tama-chan and the
townsperson, waiting to see what would happen.
“Death to the traitors!”
“D-death?”
“This is getting ugly!”
Mimimi and I exchanged glances.
“A situation like this…calls for smoke!” Tama hurled some sort of
energy at the ground. Sand flew up, instantly blocking my vision.
“Wow! A huge dust cloud!”
“Come on, guys, this way!” she yelled, leading the three of us to the
road under the cover of the swirling dust.
***
Once we were safely in a back alley, we shared another round of
greetings.
“I’m so glad I found you guys! Mimimi and Tomozaki and…Fuka-chan,
you look kind of small!”
“It seems…I’m a fairy in this game.”

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“I love it! It’s perfect for you!” Tama-chan said, which made Kikuchi-
san smile and blush. As always, Tama-chan said exactly what she was
thinking. She grinned.
“I bet you’re glad there’s finally someone smaller than you!” Mimimi
teased.
“Shut up and mind your own business!” Tama-chan snapped back.
This felt just like real life.
“Anyway, what are you wearing, Tama? Some kind of green martial
arts outfit with a red scarf? Whew, breaking the mold! So cute!”
“Um, I’m the daughter of a martial arts family that runs a karate dojo
outside this town!”
“…That outfit does look like something a monk would wear,” I said,
thinking back to similar characters I’d seen in RPGs. She had on a
green Chinese-style dress with an orange scarf, and her hair was tied
in pigtails.
“So you do karate…so you must have a strong heart and strong
body…but you’re still small…how cute! Starting today, I’m Team
Tama!”
“Uh, I think you’ve supported her all along…,” I remarked as Mimimi
spun out of control. She stuck her tongue out at me.
“…We have more important things to do than argue!” Tama-chan
reminded us.
“You’re right. What on earth just happened?” Kikuchi-san asked.
“…Well, this town is a little bit strange…,” Tama-chan began slowly.
***
“Oh, so that’s what the townsperson meant when he said that,” I
said. Everything made sense now.

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“So Takahiro…I mean, Bell…controls the actions of everyone in this
town?” Mimimi said, thinking as she talked.
“Yes, everyone receives a schedule, and you have to do what it says.
It tells you where to go, what to do, who to be friends with, and who
to marry. He says if you follow the Schedule, you’ll be happy.”
“Happy?” Kikuchi-san muttered, frowning.
“Mayor Bell used to be an excellent fortune-teller…and I’ve heard
that if you do what he says, you do meet good people and find good
work and live a good life, but…”
“You can’t do what you want?” I asked. The town policy sounded to
me like the polar opposite of Tama-chan’s own approach to life.
“So free will has no place here?” Kikuchi-san asked.
Tama-chan nodded.
“Yes, it’s like a dystopia. My mom and dad in this world met thanks
to the Schedule, and they say they’re grateful to him for that, but
this life feels too rigid to me—”
“Ah-ha-ha! Yeah, I could never see you going along with that!”
Mimimi interrupted.
“No. And…”
Just then, I heard someone shouting from the end of the alley.
“There they are! Over there!”
I had a bad feeling about this. I turned around and saw a soldier in
armor pointing at us.
“…So that means…”
“When I said I didn’t want to follow the Schedule, he treated me like
a traitor!”
“I knew it!”

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My suspicions were correct. The next instant, we found ourselves in
the dead end of an alley.
“You’re trapped! You’ll never escape now!”
“They found us! Looks like we’ll have to fight!” Mimimi shouted
excitedly, obviously enjoying the game now.
“Be careful! He’s way stronger than that slime you fought before!”
Kikuchi-san warned.
“Got it! Leave it to Mimimi-chan!”
“Mimimi, you’re a thief. You’re supposed to play support.”
“I am?”
“It’s okay! I’m a martial artist, so I can fight!”
“Tama-chan and I will be the front guard while you distract him,
Mimimi! Here we go!”
“Hmm, this isn’t quite what I imagined,” Mimimi mumbled,
scratching her cheek. Meanwhile, Tama-chan and I started fighting
the soldier.
***
The open field we were in turned into a box, like the shift to a battle
map in a game. Apparently, we weren’t going to be able to run away
from this fight.
“So you wanna fight, traitors? The, uh, wraith of Master Bell
shall…fall on you!” the soldier said incoherently. Once again, the
voice sounded a lot like Takei’s.
“Wraith?” I echoed, confused. After a brief silence, Mimimi lit up.
“…Do you mean…wrath?”
“Oh, yes, wrath and wraith look very similar,” Kikuchi-san said,
nodding. The soldier pointed at the two of them happily.

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“Yeah, that’s what it was! Wrath!”
I sighed. “You seem awfully relaxed for a battle, Takei…”
“Dude, shut up!”
The moment the soldier-slash-Takei lost his cool, Mimimi pounced.
“I’m gonna get you!” She pulled the knife from her belt and lunged at
the solider. But…
“Ha! Doesn’t work, does it?”
“My knife bounced off him!”
Her attack failed.
“His armor must defend against physical attacks! This sucks—none of
us can use magic!”
While we panicked, the soldier shouted, “Charge!” in Takei’s voice
and raised his greatsword to bring it down on Mimimi.
“Mimimi, watch out!”
“Brain!!”
I leaped in front of her, taking the soldier’s attack.
“Oof!”
“Tomozaki-kun, are you all right?!” Kikuchi-san asked.
“Brain, I’m s-sorry you had to shield me…”
“It’s fine. I probably have the highest defense of anyone in this
party… Can I have a potion, though?”
“B-Brain… Okay, here it is!” Mimimi said, selecting an item from the
menu and giving it to me.
“Thanks. I feel better… But I wonder how we can inflict damage on
him…”

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Suddenly, Tama-chan, who until now had been watching from the
sidelines, turned toward the soldier.
“…I’m gonna try something!” She crouched down, then dashed
toward him. “Open hand strike!”
Her strike from below caught his chin and sent his helmet flying up.
“I feel dizzy!”
Kikuchi-san watched in surprise. “He’s staggering!”
“I thought I’d rattle his head a little!” Tama-chan said cheerfully.
Mimimi looked unsettled. “Wait, so you’re actually good at martial
arts, Tama?”
“Not really, but as I was looking at his armor, the idea just kind of hit
me…”
“Oh, interesting…so this must be one of those RPGs where skills
come to you in a flash while you’re fighting… Hey, Mimimi!”
“What?”
“Will you stare at that soldier for a minute and see if any ideas hit
you?”
“Stare at him…? Oh!”
“Did a light bulb go on?”
“Heh-heh-heh. Leave it to Mimimi!”
Our resident sprinter started running—and in an instant, she was at
the soldier’s side.
“You’re so fast!”
“Piece of cake!”
With a sound like a key turning in a lock, the soldier’s armor fell apart
and clattered to the ground. He was completely vulnerable.

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“How’s that for a guard break?”
“His armor is off!”
“The rest is up to you, Brain!”
“Okay! Ahhhhh!”
I dashed forward and thrust my warrior’s sword through the soldier.
Physically speaking, I didn’t actually slice him in two, but the sense of
resistance lingered in my arm.
“Aaaaargh! You got me, didn’t you?!” the soldier screamed in Takei’s
voice, crumpling to the ground.
“Yes! He’s down!”
“You did it!”
While Mimimi and Kikuchi-san shouted happily, Tama-chan gazed at
the motionless body of the soldier.
“…Poor Takei,” she said softly.
“That goes for real life, too,” I answered. Just then, that familiar
pleasant feeling coursed through my body. Several times in a row, in
fact.
“Does that mean…I just leveled up multiple times?”
“It’s shaking all through me!” Tama-chan said, sounding surprised.
For some reason, Mimimi was writhing around.
“I could get addicted to this!”
“Definitely!”
Suddenly, the fallen soldier reached his left hand up toward the sky.
“M-M-Master Bell, may you perspire!!”
With that, his arm flopped down by his side. Tama-chan crept timidly
up and peered at him.

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“He’s not moving anymore.”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding.
“Those were pretty weird last words,” Mimimi said, as if she’d just
realized something. “I bet that in the script it was supposed to be
‘prosper,’ not ‘perspire’…”
Yup, he’d done it again.
“Oh, he misread the script?” Kikuchi-san said awkwardly.
“Well, it’s not his fault—he’s Takei after all,” I said, trying to make
her feel better. About what, I’m not sure.
“…Yeah. But forget about that, we’ve gotta get out of here!” Mimimi
shouted, coming back to her senses.
“You’re right. If we stay here, more soldiers will probably find us. And
they seem to be the type who crack down on traitors mercilessly…,” I
said, coolly analyzing the situation.
“Y-yes, but…,” Tama-chan said anxiously. Mimimi thumped her on
the shoulder.
“We can talk later! For now, let’s run until we feel safe!”
“O-okay!”
We all started running toward the end of the alleyway.
***
We ran around town trying to find somewhere safe, but every time a
townsperson spotted us, they made a big fuss and blocked our way.
“Shit! Wherever we go, the townspeople recognize us!” I said,
leading the pack.
“I bet an emergency change was posted in everyone’s Schedule…
He’s able to change them in real time using magic…,” Tama-chan
answered, looking panicked.

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“Then we’ll have to leave town, won’t we?” Kikuchi-san asked.
“The gates leading out of town are probably all shut! We’ll have to
find a secret passage…,” Tama-chan said anxiously, looking around.
“I wish there was someone who could save us!” Mimimi shouted.
Tama-chan’s head snapped up, as if an idea had just hit her.
“…This way!”
“Did you think of something?!”
“Yeah, the place where I’ve been hiding! My family has been
protecting me! I don’t know if we can all fit, but just make sure no
one is following you!”
Mimimi grinned. “Got it! When I leveled up, I got a stealth skill, so I’ll
use that!”
“Nice! Figures, since you’re a thief!”
“Leave it to me! It’ll affect all of you!”
With that, the four of us started sneaking through the alleyways.
***
“Tiptoe, tiptoe… Are we there yet?”
Mimimi’s feet were sparkling as she recited an incantation that I
suspect wasn’t actually necessary. I think the sparkles mean she was
using the stealth skill.
“Yup, we’re here.”
“This…is where you’ve been hiding?” I asked.
“Is it a storehouse?” Kikuchi-san said.
We were looking at an old wooden building that definitely didn’t
seem like a place people lived.

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“It’s the shed from a toolmaker’s shop that got knocked down. I’ve
been hiding here because there was a lot of nonperishable food
stored here. For now, it’s safe because everyone is so busy following
the Schedule they’ve forgotten all about this place.”
“They have?” Mimimi asked worriedly. All the same, we decided to
crowd in.
“My dad and big sister are in there right now…and my mom must be
out getting water.”
“Hello… Hey, it’s Yuzu!” Mimimi blurted out when her eyes met
Izumi’s inside the shed.
“You’re all here?!”
She scanned our party. I was equally surprised to see her.
“Wh-what are you doing here?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. She’s my sister,” Tama-chan said, like that
was entirely natural.
“Your sister…?”
Mimimi seemed disturbed by this bombshell.
“Yes, Hanabi-chan is my little sister!” Izumi said.
“Sh-she is…? My cute, adorable little Tama…is Yuzu’s little
sister…umm…”
“You seem very shaken by that,” I said. I was concerned, but I
wanted to see what emotion she would ultimately land on.
“—I can accept that!” she finally said.
“Glad to hear it,” I said with a relieved but not surprised sigh.
“Uh, ’scuse me,” a man who appeared to be Tama-chan’s dad said,
coughing. I knew immediately who it was.
“It’s Takei.”

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“Definitely Takei,” Kikuchi-san agreed. We exchanged glances and
sniggered.
“Who are you guys?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You must be Izumi’s dad, right?” Mimimi asked.
He grinned cheerfully. “Bingo!”
“Definitely Takei.”
“Definitely.”
Kikuchi-san and I exchanged another glance.
“We’re friends of Tama and Yuzu!”
“Oh, you’re my daughter’s friends? Well then, make yourselves at
home!” he said, pointing in the air. As Takei likes to do.
“He seems very relaxed,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Kind of undignified for a dad…”
Just then, I heard the sounds of metal clashing and fists hitting flesh,
like a fight was going on
“Uh-oh, what’s happening?” the concerned father asked in Takei’s
voice.
“It sounds like…M-Mom!” Izumi yelped.
“Oh no!” Tama-chan said in shock.
We all burst outside.
“Look!”
“Hoofprints, signs of a fight…and blood,” Kikuchi-san said. The prints
were fresh.
“It can’t be!” Izumi was freaking out now. Something was clearly very
wrong—but neither their mother nor the soldier was anywhere to be
found.

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“Do you think she was…kidnapped?” Mimimi asked.
“Based on the evidence, yes… And her life could be at risk,” I said.
The face of Izumi’s-father-slash-Takei clouded over with an
expression of despair so profound I could hardly believe it was Takei.
“But…no soldier following the Schedule should have found us here…”
Tama-chan looked even more stricken.
“It’s all my fault…”
“Hanabi-chan?”
“I did something I shouldn’t have, like I always do…and that’s why
the Schedule was updated…” Tama-chan’s voice gradually trailed off.
“M-maybe, but it’s only a game!”
“Yeah! It’s only a game, so you don’t have to feel bad!”
Tama-chan was not reassured by Mimimi and Izumi’s attempts.
“But…if the game is this realistic, it’s no different from interacting
with real people.”
“You really think so?” Izumi asked. I could tell she didn’t agree, but
she was trying to be understanding.
“If that’s how she feels, who are we to argue?” Mimimi said,
nodding.
“We have to save her!” Tama-chan said, looking up with a
determined glint in her eye. “We have to save our mother!”
“Hanabi-chan…,” Kikuchi-san said, startled. But I understood her line
of thinking.
“…You’re right,” I said forcefully.
“B-Brain?”

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“I know this is a game; it’s not real. It’s technically okay if someone
dies here.”
“Right,” Izumi said, nodding.
“But…I’m not going to be lazy because of that. I always try hardest
when I’m playing video games. I think…that’s what it means to be a
gamer,” I said.
Kikuchi-san giggled. “You’re right,” she said. I was surprised but
happy to have her support. “I feel the same way. I ended up in this
role by chance, but now that I’ve got it, I think it’s more fun to give it
my all.”
“Thanks. I know I’m a pain in the butt,” Tama-chan said, sounding a
little depressed.
Mimimi thumped her on the shoulder. “No, you’re not! Well, maybe
kinda, but that’s why I like you!” she said.
“It is? Thanks.” Tama-chan glanced away, blushing slightly.
“Okay then, let’s act like this is real life, and we’re going to save their
mother! If there’s a chance she’s still alive, we’ve got to do
everything we can to rescue her!” I said, leading the party in true
warrior fashion. I can do this kind of stuff in a game, at least.
“R-really? If that’s what you all want to do, then I’m in,” Izumi said.
She didn’t seem fully convinced, but she was kind enough to go along
with the plan.
“Launch Operation Rescue Mom!” Mimimi announced.
“By the way, what’s your job, Izumi-san?” Kikuchi-san asked, glancing
at her as if she’d suddenly realized something.
“My job?”
Izumi isn’t much of a gamer, so I explained.
“Like, are you a magician or a warrior or what?”

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“Oh, that? It said I’m a white mage or something.”
“Ooh! So you know about recovery!”
“Yes! I can use recovery magic!”
I nodded happily at her. She was exactly the sort of person we’d
been looking for. Mimimi smiled, too.
“That’s perfect! We were just saying we needed someone who could
help us with that!”
“I think we’ve got enough people in our party now! A warrior, a
monk, a thief, and a white mage. Not a bad mix!”
“Awesome! Then let’s go!” Mimimi said, and the rest of the group
shouted their agreement.
“Wait, first let’s go kill some random soldiers outside of town so we
can level up,” I said.
“You’re so rational, Brain.”
***
We were standing in front of Bell’s mansion.
“So we’re finally here…,” Mimimi said, craning her neck up to look at
the huge building.
We were squarely in enemy territory. If we let our guard down for a
second, we’d be dead meat.
“At least your level is much higher now,” Kikuchi-san said. Everyone
nodded. Once we started killing soldiers, we got addicted to the
level-up buzz, so I’m pretty sure we were all plenty strong now.
Whether that was enough to take down the boss was another
question.
“So this is Mizusawa’s mansion…,” I mumbled nervously.

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“His name is Bell, so maybe you should call him that?” Tama-chan
said.
“Nah, it’s annoying,” I answered as bluntly as her.
“Did you hear that, Kikuchi-san?”
“Um, yes…,” she said, shrinking back from our brutally honest
exchange. Ack, sorry!
“Well, what should we do? We could walk straight in the front door
like we owned the place…but usually if you do that in these
situations, you fall into a trap,” I said, thinking out loud. Mimimi
pointed to the back of the mansion.
“In that case…let’s go this way!”
“Do you know something we don’t?” Izumi asked, tilting her head.
Mimimi stuck her finger in the air proudly. “No, but when I leveled
up, I got a lock-picking skill, so I think I can get us in the back door!”
“Wow, you’re a great crook!” Izumi said enthusiastically, but since
she doesn’t really understand gaming, I think she was just playing
along. Mimimi wagged her finger.
“I’m a thief, okay? Crook doesn’t sound very good.”
“Thief, crook, whatever! Let’s just go,” Tama-chan said, efficiently
slicing the Gordian knot.
Meanwhile, I was gloating to myself. “Heh-heh, looks like those level-
ups have worked!”
“Brain, that smile is creepy…”
“Let’s see—where’s the door…,” Izumi said, looking around. “Ah,
right here!”
“I think it’s what we’re looking for,” Kikuchi-san agreed.
“Good. Let’s get in there!” I said, and we stepped into the mansion.

Page | 213
***
Meanwhile, on the second floor…
“I believe they’ve entered the building.”
“Indeed. Takahiro, can you do something about it?”
A woman was sitting on a throne with a stylish male attendant
beside her in the dimly lit room. They seemed to be enjoying
themselves.
“…I told you to call me Bell here.”
“Did you? In that case, you’ll need to speak to me more respectfully.”
“Fine, fine, Your Highness.”
“That’s better.”
“Anyway, want me to go down first?”
“…‘Want me to’?”
“Oh right—would you prefer if I go down first, Your Highness?”
“Hee-hee, yes, please do that, Takahiro.”
“I told you… Oh, never mind. As you wish.”
***
“Looks like the first floor is clear. I’m searching with my thief senses,
but I don’t detect anyone.”
“Thieves sure come in handy,” I joked, but I was impressed by the
way she was putting her abilities to maximum use.
“I think…there are people in the basement and on the second floor!”
“Then that must mean there’s a dungeon in the basement and Bell is
on the second floor,” Kikuchi-san said.
“Seems likely. Dungeons in RPGs are always down…which means…!”

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When I said that, Tama-chan’s face suddenly brightened.
“She’s alive!”
“We don’t know that yet. The people down there could be guards,” I
reminded them.
Tama-chan nodded. “…You’re right. Let’s get going!”
The five of us headed down.
“Over there!” Kikuchi-san was pointing at a female figure.
“A woman in the dungeon… That must mean…!”
Mimimi finished my sentence for me. “It must be their mother!”
I nodded. I figured we were about to witness an emotional family
reunion, but…
“…Yuzucchi! Tama!!”
Their mother started talking in Takei’s voice.
“Hey, why does their mom sound like Takei, too?!” I shouted. How
was that allowed? They better patch that.
“I’m having a hard time feeling emotional about this…,” Mimimi said,
smiling wryly. I didn’t know how to react, either.
“It’s amazing that Hanabi-chan took this seriously and genuinely tried
to save her…”
“Why? I mean, if he’s supposed to be my mom, then he’s my mom!”
Tama-chan said, as if that made any sense. Izumi turned to us with a
pleading look.
“Okay, now you guys understand why I couldn’t empathize, right?!”
“Yes, I do now…,” Kikuchi-san said.
“I can see how that would be ha—,” I started to say, when I heard
the door open.

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“The game is up.”
“…That sounds like Mizusa… I mean, Bell,” I said.
Bell sighed. “If only you’d gone to the next town like I told you…but
no, you had to go and poke your noses where they didn’t belong.”
“Shut up and give us back our mother!” Tama-chan cried with an
impressive level of drama. She’s amazing.
“That’s an impossible request,” Mizusawa answered, matching her.
Izumi and Mimimi watched them and whispered to each other.
“Hiro’s really into this!”
“Yuzu, you can’t say things like that in the middle of the game!”
But Izumi was right—Mizusawa had clearly been enjoying this all
along.
“Don’t chat among yourselves; I’m talking!” he scolded sharply.
“Yessir!” Izumi answered, straightening her posture.
“But why did you kidnap their mother?!” I asked, getting into my role
for the moment.
“She was getting in the way of the ideal community I am creating
here. It’s as simple as that,” he said in a leisurely tone.
“‘Ideal community’…?” Kikuchi-san echoed.
“I have the power to divine the perfect, ideal state of the world. I
construct the scenarios that the gods communicate to me, and if
everything goes according to my plans, everyone in the world will be
equal and happy. Needless to say, that includes both the human and
demon races.”
I could tell Tama-chan was getting angrier and angrier.
“But you ignore how everyone else feels!” she shouted emotionally.
“Some of us have things we want to do!”

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Mizusawa refused to budge.
“Yes, some people do. There is some truth to what you say, young
lady. But more people do not. They find it’s easier to simply do as
they’re told, and they’re happier that way. You may want to walk
your own path, but do you have the right to force others to do the
same?”
“That’s…”
“If you want to leave this town by yourself, be my guest. But if you
try to brainwash your family and friends into leaving together, I
won’t stand for it. After all, your friends and family are an important
part of my community. What’s wrong with that?”
“…!”
“Tama…”
His speech left her wordless.
“Just like you don’t want to be condemned for forging ahead, other
people want their weak way of life affirmed. In this town, we offer
those weak people their promised happiness.”
“Wh-when you put it like that…,” Kikuchi-san said, sounding half
convinced.
“Your family was happy here. Innocently, unquestioningly happy.
Until you began enticing them to leave. You, Hanabi, are the one
who destroyed that for them.”
“You think…I…”
Just then, Izumi raised her head, no longer staring at the floor.
“…But!”
“Izumi?!”
“But our family matters to us!!”

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Tama-chan stared at Izumi in a daze as she earnestly protested.
“…Yuzu-chan.”
“You may be selfishly going after what you want…but is it really so
bad to want the family members you love so much to be themselves
instead of being part of some ideal ‘community’?!”
“Why are you being so stubborn?”
“Hiro, you of all people should understand! You should admire
people with a strong sense of self!”
“…I’m not Hiro. I’m Bell.”
“That doesn’t matter! Bell should understand, too!”
“…Damn it. Fine.”
“Bell— I mean, Hiro…?”
“Geez, you sure are taking this seriously. But fine, you got me. I’m
starting to reconsider my position.”
Abruptly, the tension drained from Bell-slash-Mizusawa’s body.
“Which means…”
“Whatever, it’s fine. Who cares if Tama and her family go free? Four
less people in this town won’t make much of a difference anyway.”
“…We convinced you?”
“Not exactly… Bell doesn’t understand Izumi’s point, but I do, so we
can skip the fight.”
“Takahiro! I knew there was some goodness in there somewhere!”
Mimimi announced happily. Mizusawa let out a cold sigh.
“I suppose. Anyhow, you’d better get going before you’re discov—”
That very moment, we heard the sound of hard heels tapping on the
floor. Gradually, the sound came closer.

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“Dear me, Bell. Aren’t you being a bit too kind?” a voice said.
“Well, speak of the devil,” Mizusawa answered, sighing with a wry
smile. The clicking of footsteps grew louder until a form appeared in
the doorway.
“Oh my, what a heartwarming scene.”
“…Aoi?!”
There stood Aoi Hinami, dressed as an actual demon.
“Dear me, it will never do for a commoner to address me so casually.
I am the Demon Queen. Demon Queen Aoi Hinami, that is.”
“D-Demon Queen…?” Kikuchi-san echoed; even she was
overwhelmed.
“So you’ve finally become a real final boss, eh?”
I, on the other hand, was impressed for a different reason
altogether.
“Damn it, now I don’t know what to tell you.” Mizusawa sighed,
raising one eyebrow. “You can try to escape, but you won’t get far.”
“Wh-what do we do? F-f-fight her?!” Izumi stuttered, clearly
terrified.
“B-but her stats are unbelievably high!”
Mimimi was getting swept up in the panic, too. I mean, this version
of Hinami really was overwhelming in her power.
“You’re right. A party like you could never take me down… But I
don’t feel like fighting right now anyhow.”
Tama-chan tilted her head in confusion.
“You don’t?”
“I simply want to create a world where the demon race and the
human race can live as equals.”

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Izumi stared into Hinami’s eyes as if she were searching for the true
meaning of her words.
“The demon race and the human race?”
Hinami nodded. “In today’s world, the human race controls nearly
everything. But my ideal is for us to live in harmony, each in their
own place, with neither receiving preference over the other.”
“That would be nice if it were possible…but it’s probably not
realistic,” I argued.
“Um…I think the problem is…that demons eat humans, right?”
Kikuchi-san added.
“Yes. But that’s no different from humans eating livestock. That’s
why we of the demon race will promise to raise certain humans as
livestock, and those will be the only ones we eat. We’ll raise them in
ranches just like this town.”
That’s when everything fell into place.
“Oh, I get it… So in the story, this town is a prototype for a livestock
ranch where every aspect of people’s lives is fully managed?”
“Stop talking about the ‘story.’”
“Oh, sorry.”
Hinami apparently took offense at my meta-analysis. For a moment,
the group fell into an awkward silence. Hinami coughed, pulling
herself together.
“…This is what I am proposing. The demon race and the human race
will divide the living space equally between them, and the demons
will raise humans as livestock to eat. In exchange, they will not
interfere in the human communities. Needless to say, we will lodge
no complaints about humans who raise animals as livestock. We
don’t even mind if you raise demons to eat. What do you say?”

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“It does sound fair…”
“You’re asking if we’ll accept ranches like this town?”
Mimimi and Izumi both seemed unsure about which side to come
down on.
“No way! We can’t let them build human ranches!” Tama-chan
exclaimed.
“But it’s true that people raise pigs and cows to eat…,” Kikuchi-san
responded.
“Yes, I guess that’s t-true…” Tama-chan was getting swayed by her
words.
“Wh-what should we do?! Brain, what do you think?!”
“What?! Me?!”
“Yeah, tell us what to do, Tomozaki! I can’t figure out hard stuff like
this!” Mimimi went on. Izumi nodded. For some reason, everything
now rested on my shoulders. Why???
“Y-you’re kidding me…”
“If you’re such a great gamer, you should be able to figure this out!
It’s in your hands!” Mimimi said.
“Yes! If Minmi says it’s up to you, then I do, too!” Tama-chan piled
on, looking straight at me. I wish she wouldn’t do that at moments
like this.
“Yeah, and you’re a warrior, too,” Mizusawa said. For me, that was
the decisive argument.
“Well…you do have a point,” I said. Warriors do tend to make the
final decision at these critical moments. I couldn’t deny that.

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So I started analyzing the situation. Like Hinami said, the system she
was proposing was fair. And if it could be maintained, it could
probably lead to lasting peace… But…
“Nope, we can’t accept it,” I said confidently, having arrived at my
conclusion.
“…Really now. And why is that?” Hinami asked.
“You’re right that people eat pigs and cows, and that’s generally
accepted.”
“As I said!” she interjected imposingly, then waited for me to
continue.
“But doing the same with humans, raising them and eating them in
the exact same way—that’s unacceptable!”
“Tomozaki-kun…,” Kikuchi-san said, her voice tinged with worry.
“You want inequality, not equality. Is that what you’re saying?”
Hinami asked.
“Of course! Because we’re humans!”
“…Idiotic, egotistical creatures,” Hinami said with a scornful frown.
My determination did not waver. This was the answer of Tomozaki
the Warrior, and it would not change.
“Okay, Brain! Understood!” Mimimi said cheerfully with a nod.
“Yes, I’ll fight for that!” Tama-chan said, also nodding.
“And me too!” Izumi chimed in.
“Interesting. Because you’re human, eh?” Mizusawa said, smiling
pleasantly.
“…That is most unfortunate. Well, I’ll do you the favor of ending your
misery quickly,” Hinami said.

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“Damn it… She’s so powerful… Obviously her level is way higher than
mine…”
I felt myself being drawn in by her aura, but I gritted my teeth and
held my ground.
“We made our decision, and we’ll stick to it!” Mimimi announced,
sounding positive despite Hinami’s queenly presence.
“Mom, forgive me if I don’t make it through this…!” Tama-chan
stared at Hinami, clearly determined to see the fight to its end.
“If things turn bad, you guys run without me, okay? I can always
heal!” Izumi said, apparently ready to fulfill her role as white mage.
That’s when Kikuchi-san, our guiding fairy, spoke up.
“…Don’t worry, everyone—you’ll be fine! Um…according to the rule
book, since this is a demo, the strength of the Demon Queen is low
enough for us to easily take her down!”

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“Wait, what?”
The Demon Queen herself was the first to let out a startled
exclamation. After a slight lag, the rest of us registered what Kikuchi-
san’s words meant, too. And then…
“Yaaaaaaaa!”
The lopsided four-on-one harassment of Hinami began.
***
And that was how we trounced the Demon Queen Aoi Hinami,
whose stats were in fact far lower than her appearance had led us to
believe.
“D-damn it…looks like this is the end.”
“That was easy.” I grinned.
“I’ve still got lots of MP left!” Izumi said, also in excellent spirits.
“I wasn’t even hitting her as hard as I could,” Tama-chan said,
unfazed by the fight.
“Aoi’s so slow she didn’t even manage to hit me once!” Mimimi said,
smiling like she was really enjoying herself.
“I’m just watching ’cause I don’t want to get hurt myself,” Mizusawa
said with a casual laugh as he gazed at Hinami.
“Those level-ups you all got outside of town seem to have paid off,”
Kikuchi-san noted.
“Actually, if you think about it, leveling up this high in a demo is kind
of wrong,” I said, but I was happy with the outcome. It wasn’t often
that I got to see Hinami lose. Wonder if you can take screenshots in
this game… I’d love to preserve this moment for posterity.

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“…I’m the type who likes to be surrounded by strong people, so
starting today I’m on your side,” Mizusawa said casually.
“Unbelievable! You’re so self-serving!” Tama-chan scolded.
“Gasp… But remember this,” Hinami said, staggering from her
wounds. “You didn’t win today because you were right…you’re right
because you won…!”
“Pretty words—but not very convincing coming from a weakling like
her,” Mizusawa said.
“Yeah. In RPGs, the balance is as important as the story,” I added.
“What’s happening…? It’s too horrible…,” Hinami cried, collapsing to
the ground before falling silent.
“Hinami-san…farewell,” Kikuchi-san said prayerfully, watching her
depart the world. That was the signal for bouncy music to start
blaring through the whole mansion.
“Ooh, this must be the ending!” said Mimimi.
“That was so fun! Let’s play again after it goes on sale for real!”
Izumi may have had trouble empathizing with her fictional mother,
but she genuinely seemed to have enjoyed the game.
“Yeah, I just wish we could save our data for next time,” Mizusawa
said, sounding satisfied.
“I know, but usually demo versions like this are separate from the
real game.”
“But it was fun!” Kikuchi-san laughed.
Tama-chan nodded happily. “I thought so, too!”
Hearing them say that made the gamer in me happy.
“Ha-ha. I’m glad even you two nongamers liked it.”

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From inside her dungeon cell, Mother shouted a happy “That was
great!”
“I still can’t get used to hearing someone who looks like a mom talk
with Takei’s voice,” I said, smiling wryly.
Just then, we heard an echoey voice.
“Hey, don’t you think it’s strange that I’m the only one who’s not
there?”
“I hear someone calling from heaven!” Mizusawa joked.
“Ah-ha-ha! Awww, poor Aoi! And I don’t get to say that often!”
Mimimi added. They were both clearly enjoying the unusual
situation. But I was probably enjoying it more than anyone else.
“It’s almost weird how happy I feel,” I said.
“Tomozaki-kun? You’ll pay for this!” the echoey voice scolded.
“I’m sorry—please have mercy on me,” I said, attempting to mollify
her so she wouldn’t give me more assignments later.
“Tee-hee, you two sure are good friends,” Kikuchi-san said.
“I know! It’s amazing!” Izumi said.
“Oh n-no, not at all…,” I said vaguely, trying in a mild panic to stop
her from pursuing the topic.
“Hey, you guys, the ending’s almost over!”
The music reached its grand finale with a da-da-da-da! There was a
moment of silence. And then—
“Tree End!!”
“Oh my god, it’s The End,” I said, sharply correcting Takei as he once
again misread the script. Come on—at least get the final line right!

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