3

When Saturday came, Kokoro and I took all of her stuff that was spread around the house and shoved it into her room. We removed her shoes from the entryway and hid all the girly bath products, hair tools, and cosmetics from the bathroom.

“This should do it,” I said, collapsing onto the couch once I was satisfied with the state of the house. If I just made sure that Elena didn’t walk into Kokoro’s room, we’d be fine.

“Are you really planning to let Minami in the house while it looks like this?” Kokoro asked, appalled.

“Huh? Did I forget some of your stuff somewhere?”

“That’s not the problem! You still have to tidy up! And clean the bathroom!”

“It doesn’t look that dirty to me...”

“You realize you’ve invited a girl over, right?! Don’t you want to make a good impression? You’d better take this seriously!”

I’d never had a girl over before—except for Kokoro, of course. If she hadn’t brought it up, I would have thought my efforts were more than sufficient.

“Hmm, I guess you’re right. All right! I’ll make this place spotless!”

With Kokoro’s help, I proceeded to dust, vacuum, and sweep the whole house.

“Perfect!” I said proudly, checking out our handiwork. The place looked the cleanest it had in a long time.

“We’re getting there, at least,” she said, still not entirely satisfied. “Ah, right!”

She dashed out of the room, returning seconds later with a pink spray bottle in her hand.

“This is the air freshener I use in my room. Spray it around yours before Minami gets here tomorrow,” she said, handing it to me.

“Oh, so you were using this stuff. Thanks,” I said, finally understanding why her room smelled so nice. Girls have some really advanced technology, huh?

“If you’re going to actually get a girlfriend, you should at least be able to take care of this much by yourself,” she said. As usual, she couldn’t help but phrase everything in the most condescending way possible, but I was still grateful for her advice.

“A-Anyway, the house is perfect now, isn’t it?”

In its current state, my humble abode was fit to welcome Elena and any other hypothetical future girlfriend.

“Well... Do you have snacks and drinks ready?”

“Do I...?” I replied, running to the fridge to check its contents. The only thing I could offer to a guest was the cold barley tea that Kokoro had made, and there wasn’t much of that left either.

Snacks and drinks... I didn’t think that far ahead.

“I’ll make some more tea. Then I should buy some snacks...”

“Yeah, you should! You can bet she’s going to bring something to eat as a gift tomorrow! Do you wanna look like an inconsiderate guy who can’t even offer her a snack in return?!”

“N-No, I don’t...”

“And you’re going to walk her here from the station tomorrow, right? That’s the perfect opportunity! Ask her what she likes while you’re walking together and buy it before getting home!”

“Actually, we still haven’t talked about whether I’d walk her here or not...”

“What?! It’s like ten minutes from the station! You definitely need to do it!”

“You’re right... I’ll message her.”

Kokoro sighed loudly. “If you ever do manage to get a girlfriend, you’d better be more prepared than this, or that relationship isn’t going to last long.”

“Ugh...”

What am I supposed to do?! It’s my first time doing this! I’ve had Ai and other male friends over, but guys don’t treat it like it’s a huge event every time! Hmm... maybe my parents did though. When my friends’ parents came over with them, mine would prepare drinks and snacks for them... I think. I’d better make a mental note of everything Nishina said, so I’m prepared when I do manage to get a girlfriend...

I sent a message to Elena and we agreed on a time to meet at the station.

“About tomorrow,” I said to Kokoro, “I’m sorry I have to ask this, but you can stay out of the house for the whole time she’s here, right?”

“Yeah... I guess I’ll go to a manga café or something. There’s a ton of manga I wanna catch up on.”

“Thanks. I’ll message you once she leaves, okay?”

“Okay.”

The next day.

“Come on, Nishina, it’s almost one! If you don’t leave soon, you’ll run into Minami outside the house!”

“Sheesh, I get it, I get it,” Kokoro said, quickly preparing, then leaving the house.

I sprayed the scent that she’d given me in my room, which immediately started smelling so good that I could barely recognize it.

I’m ready... I thought to myself, suddenly feeling nervous.

I jumped onto my bicycle and reached the station just in time.

“Ah, Minami!” I said as I saw her standing next to the ticket gates. She was wearing a white blouse open on the shoulders—what I’d once heard Kokoro call a “cold shoulder” blouse—and a blue knee-length skirt that showed off her beautiful pale legs. Today she was wearing her silky golden hair in a ponytail, revealing her dainty ears that were studded with two small earrings. Her look was completed by a thin necklace that glittered in the sunlight. She’d absolutely nailed the delicate balance between “cutesy” and “sexy”—so much so that I was left utterly speechless.

“Ichigaya! I’m sorry I invited myself over like this,” she said, looking painfully guilty. “I really appreciate you coming all the way here to meet me!”

“Oh, it was nothing. Don’t worry about it! Let’s go, shall we? It only takes about ten minutes.”

We started walking, chatting as I pushed my bicycle along the pavement.

Along the way, I asked Elena what kinds of snacks she liked and bought them from a convenience store as we passed. I had to insist, since she kept telling me that I didn’t need to, but we eventually left the store with a bag of chips and a box of chocolates.

We arrived at my house soon after, though Elena seemed even less prepared than I was.

“You live by yourself in such a huge house?”

“It used to be me and my family, but then they moved overseas because of my dad’s work, so I have it all to myself now.”

“R-Really?!” she asked, suddenly fired up.

“Y-Yes...?”

“Ah, sorry. I just got excited about how ‘anime protagonist backstory’ your situation sounded.”

“Haha, I get that a lot. Well... come in, I guess,” I said, unlocking the door and inviting Elena to enter. As she stepped inside, my nervousness tripled.

Minami is in my house! She’s inside of it! Really inside!

I instinctively looked down. Kokoro’s shoes had all been safely hidden away. Even if we’d forgotten a pair, I could have easily passed them off as my mom’s or sister’s.

“Oh, right, I almost forgot. I brought you this...” Elena said, handing me the paper shopping bag she’d been carrying.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“It’s just a small token of my gratitude,” she explained.

I opened the bag and saw a box of cookies.

“Aw, you didn’t need to! Thanks! Hm...?”

As I took a closer look, I noticed that there was something else inside the bag: a file folder and a keychain, both with images of Yumeno☆Saki on them.

“Are these the convenience store collab items?!”

“Yes, that’s right. After our call, I realized how impolite I’d been to invite myself over like that... I know that this isn’t enough, but I wanted to thank you for being so kind.”

“You’re too nice! It’s not such a big deal, really!”

I (or rather, Kokoro) had expected her to bring a small gift, but I was surprised that she’d go to the trouble of buying something like this for me. I’m so glad I stopped to get those snacks... Being completely empty-handed would have been terrible of me.

“Wait...” I said, digging further inside the bag. “There’s more? This is... Emily Saionji!”

Alongside the cookies and the Yumeno☆Saki merchandise, Elena had also gifted me an Emily Saionji acrylic standee.

“I had a few of them at home. I thought that maybe you’d like it.”

“Oh wow, I do! Thank you so much!”

“I also wanted to give you something as a thank you for always listening to me and offering me your advice...”

“I barely did anything at all!” I replied, completely blown away that a girl younger than me would give me all of this stuff.

When I showed her into the living room, the gravity of such a simple action suddenly dawned on me. I was showing Elena, a girl, into my own living room... and she wasn’t just any girl. She was my favorite VTuber.

Emily Saionji and I are alone in my house!

“Y-You take a seat on the couch if you want,” I said, so tense that my voice cracked.

“Whoa, your house is so tidy! And it smells so nice!” she commented, looking surprised.

Thanks for saving me, Nishina.

“Did I... impose on you?” Elena asked. “Did you have to clean everything up because of me?”

Is she trying to say that my house is too tidy for me to live in it?!

“N-Not at all!” I said, offering her some of the tea from the fridge. I then opened up the chips and chocolates and put them on a plate on the coffee table.

“Thank you! To think that you’d receive me so politely even though I’m just here to play a game...”

“Oh, it’s just a few snacks!”

Thanks again, Nishina.

“W-Would you mind showing me where to wash my hands?” Elena asked. As expected of a girl so well-behaved, she wanted to wash her hands before touching any food.

“Not at all!” I said, leading her to the closest bathroom. We’d cleaned in here too, so I felt pretty safe bringing her there, but I instinctively looked around one last time just to make extra sure.

That’s when I saw it. Something that shouldn’t have been there.

Inside the laundry basket was a single garment: a pastel pink bra.

Of all the things you could have forgotten, did it have to be your underwear?!

I rushed inside and closed the door behind me before Elena could reach it.

“I-Is something the matter?” she called out, perplexed, from the other side.

“S-Sorry! Just a second!” I said, quickly scooping up the bra. Since Kokoro was the one in charge of laundry, I’d never even seen—let alone touched—her underwear before.

It’s still warm... Did she forget about it after her bath?

I looked around, but there was nowhere to hide it. I couldn’t leave Elena waiting much longer, so I did the only thing that made sense to me at the time: I slipped the bra under my shirt.

If she finds out about this, Nishina will kill me, but it’s her fault for leaving it here!

“S-Sorry I kept you waiting!”

“Oh, uh, not at all...”

“It was a bit, erm, messy, you see? But I tidied up! It’s all fine now!” I said as naturally as I could, pressing the hem of my shirt against my body so the bra wouldn’t fall out.

“I appreciate your thoughtfulness, but there’s really no reason to worry about that with me,” Elena replied.

I’d tucked the front of my shirt into my trousers. It might have looked ridiculous, but the alternative was having a random bra fall out of me. I had to find a way to dispose of it in my room.

Damn you, Nishina! A bra! That’s the last thing I’d want Minami to find here! She’d think I have a girlfriend. Or would she? Maybe she’d think that I just like to wear girls’ underwear... Wait, that’s even worse!

Once Elena had washed her hands, we both returned to the living room and sat down next to each other on the couch. I’d brought down my laptop and put Yuri Kiss on the table in advance. Being so close to Elena, it took all of my concentration to keep my hands from shaking.

“Oh, this is it! It’s Yuri Kiss!” she said, eyes sparkling. I handed her the box so she could take a closer look at it.

“Thank you so, so much! I thought I’d never be able to play this. I could cry!” Her excitement continued to rise, so much so she was almost bursting from her seat. She must have been even more into yuri than I thought.

“Haha, I’m just glad to help. Okay then,” I said, opening the CD drive... but there already was another disk inside.

“Whaaa—?!” I yelled, shocked, after glimpsing what it was. I quickly closed the drive back up to hide the disk inside the computer. I couldn’t have Elena seeing that. It was a game that Kokoro had basically forced me to play so that I could learn more about otaku girls and their interests. So yeah, it was a BL game, adult scenes and all.

I’d only tried it out once, but had disliked it so much that I’d forgotten all about it.

How could I forget to take out the disk?! Sh-She didn’t see it, right...? I wondered.

My wonder was brief. Little did I realize I had just made things much worse.

The game’s loading screen popped up in front of us. Five handsome men stood one next to the other under the game’s title logo, flashing with fancy, vibrant letters:

Me & My Lovely Ass♥ociates.

“Gahhhh!” I shouted as I slammed the laptop shut.

Of course the disk would autoplay it if you put it back into the laptop, I thought to myself, surprisingly calm. I’m done. Completely done. My life is over. Maybe I could have talked myself out of it after that disk came out, but now it’s too late.

I slowly turned to look at Elena. She looked completely unfazed.

“Is something the matter?” she asked me.

“Y-You saw it, didn’t you? On the screen...”

“Oh, that game just now? Sure. It was a BL game, right?”

No! She saw it!

“I’ve heard that boys that like BL are called fudanshi,” she said casually. “It’s growing very popular as a genre lately, isn’t it? I really look up to you for enjoying all kinds of otaku subcultures.”

There was no mistaking the honest respect in her tone.

That... That’s a reaction I wasn’t expecting. If she doesn’t see any problem with this, she’s either very kind, or very forgiving about people’s hobbies. Or maybe she just lacks common sense.

“Hahaha... I-I just borrowed this from a friend, you see, out of curiosity! Actually I wasn’t even curious! Not at all! This friend kind of forced me to play it! I’m not actually into BL, y-you know?”

“Oh, I see.”

“Good! Now, where were we...?”

She’s not disgusted or anything, but I still don’t want her thinking that I’m a fudanshi...

I took Kokoro’s game out of my laptop and replaced it with Yuri Kiss. Instead of five handsome guys on the screen, there were now six beautiful girls.

“Awaaah!” Elena squealed enthusiastically.

“Here, go ahead,” I said, sliding the laptop in front of her.

“Thank you so much! I-I can play by myself, so don’t worry about me! You can go and do what you like in the meantime!”

“Hm? Sure, but... I haven’t played it in a while, so I thought I’d tag along. If that’s okay with you, of course,” I said.

“Of course it is!” she said as she happily clicked on the “New Game” button.

Elena didn’t seem to be the kind of girl to nose around someone else’s computer without permission, but, just in case, I had created two new folders before she arrived: “Job Documents” and “Games.” All of the files that had previously been in plain sight on my desktop were now in one of these folders. More specifically, “Job Documents” contained porn and other questionable material, while “Games” contained the shortcuts and save files of all my R18 games.

However, despite my precautions, my laptop was still full of all kinds of files and bookmarks that I didn’t want Elena to see. I was too scared to leave her by herself while she was using it, though having me over her shoulder was probably a nuisance for her. But I had to be there in case anything happened.

“Awww, the intro is so sweet! This is like a dream come true. I thought I’d have to move out before I could play this! I’m so, so grateful, Ichigaya!”

“Don’t mention it...”

As she played, she commented on how cute this girl was, how much she loved that girl, how much she wanted to marry that other one, and so on.

As for me, even though I’d obviously already played it in the past, I liked the game enough to enjoy watching another playthrough. More entertaining than that though, was watching Elena and her reactions to everything.

Totally absorbed, Elena played through Yuri Kiss without seeing anything that she shouldn’t have.

“Ah! I didn’t realize I’d been here for so long! I’m so sorry!” Elena said around four hours into the game.

“It’s not a problem. But... wasn’t it a pain to have me watching over your shoulder the whole time?”

“Not at all! I’m just happy I could share the experience with a fellow yuri-lover!”

“That’s a relief. Anyway, each route in this game takes around eight hours to complete, so you’re still far from seeing the ending,” I said, thinking that visiting a boy’s home—my home—till late would be an issue for her.

“I see...” she said, looking disappointed. After all, few things in life are sadder than playing a dating sim, getting to like it, then having to quit without seeing how the story ends.

“If you want to, you can come here again,” I suggested, before immediately regretting it.

“I-I can?!”

Why did I say that?! We somehow managed to pull it off this time, but hiding Nishina again would be a ton of work! But how could I let her go like that? She looked so sad!

“Thank you! I can’t tell you how happy I am!” she said, smiling and staring up at me with those big, shining eyes.

Hiding Nishina again wouldn’t be so bad. It’d definitely be worth it...

“N-No, it’s nothing, really...”

“I owe you so much already for listening to my troubles with work, and you’re still so kind to me.”

“Oh, it’s not like I’m doing anything but listening. And how’s work going, anyway?” I asked her, glad the flow of the conversation had allowed me to bring up her VTubing.

“Great! Things have been going really smoothly since my last meeting.”

“That’s cool! Oh, your last collab video with Bunny was the funniest thing ever! The horror one!”

Bunny Bellhop was a cute VTuber with distinctive bunny ears who often collaborated with Emily Saionji. The two of them had become good friends, and many of their fans—including me—relished in imagining a certain romantic tension between the girls.

In particular, their latest video together involved the easily scared Bunny playing a horror game together with Emily, clinging onto her for comfort. The cuteness had almost given me a heart attack.

“Really? I had a lot of fun making that video, so I’m happy you liked it! I’ve become friends with Bunny in real life too, and we’ve been playing together a lot recently!”

“What?!” I replied in shock. The yuri-loving side of my brain was starting to overheat. I’d skeptically assumed that their friendship was little more than an act that they put on for the sake of entertainment, but now I’d learned that it was more than that. “The fans shipping you two together would melt if they knew that...”

“Would they? Just recently I went to her home and stayed the night there. I wonder if I should mention that in one of our videos... Would the fans like it?”

“You stayed over at her place?! You absolutely have to mention that! That’s huge news!” I said, unbridling the filthy otaku inside of me.

Elena, slightly befuddled, stared at me.

Oh no, I bet she’s so disgusted right now—

“Hehehe... You know, I’m always coming up with yuri fantasies about other girls, but being on the receiving end of those fantasies is fun too. I’ll ask Bunny for permission to talk about that in our next video together then!” she said happily.

Phew... She took it well...

“Oh, didn’t you announce that you’re going to be in a live event together?” I asked.

“Ah, yes! We’ll be singing a few songs together. I’m really looking forward to it!”

Live VTuber events were the biggest new thing: augmented reality technology was used to make it look like the virtual girls were really singing and dancing on stage. I only wished I could afford to attend one.

“That sounds great. I couldn’t afford a ticket, but I’ll be watching the stream and rooting for you from the comments!”

“Th-Thank you!”

“Now that I think about it, you’ve also collabed with Sakurajosui Rinne quite a few times... Are you friends with her too?” I asked Elena, but her face turned gloomy the second she heard the VTuber’s name.

Did I say something bad? Do they actually hate each other or something?

“Hmm, we don’t really know each other so well yet, but... I take it you haven’t heard the news about her?”

“What news?”

“She’s been involved in a bit of a scandal...”

I wasn’t up to speed with Rinne, as I only knew of her through Emily’s videos.

“What kind of scandal?”

“They found out the identity of the girl voicing her. She doesn’t belong to any entertainment company and has done voice acting work for several adult games and scenario audio works...”

“Scenario audio?”

“You’ve never heard of them? They’re recordings of voice actresses playing out various lewd scenarios. There are also non-lewd ones, but...”

“Ohhh, that’s what you mean! I guess the fans must have been shocked since she has that cute and innocent persona going on.”

Rinne had long black hair and clothing that, for a VTuber, showed very little skin. Her backstory was that she came from a wealthy family, and she always behaved in a dignified, refined manner. She was the typical well-to-do young lady archetype.

If I were a fan, I’d also be surprised to learn that she was voicing erotic material... but this hardly seemed scandal-worthy to me. Personally, if anything, I’d be excited about it.

Elegant young lady saying lewd stuff? Sign me right up.

“There were some audio samples of her adult-only work online, and people found out that the voice is exactly the same.”

“To be honest, I don’t see what the issue is.”

“Well, the real problem was when people found her personal Twitter account. She talks about her private life there, and the fans weren’t pleased by the way she came across.”

“Why not? What kind of person is she in real life?”

“Let’s just say that she’s as far from Rinne’s character as a person could be.”

I was so curious that I immediately pulled out my phone to check it out. Her Twitter account had been made private, but there still were screenshots of the tweets going around.

Why did this recording have to be scheduled right when I have the most painful period of my life ughhhh...

Since I’m going to be famous, maybe I’d better tell my ex to delete all the pics and videos he took of me.

I can’t stand horny guys who bother me at matchmaking parties. I hope they all burn in hell!

“Wh-Whoa...”

This is a bit too much. I’m glad I wasn’t a fan of hers to begin with. So much for having your virtual persona be an elegant, innocent young lady.

Apart from the awful tweets, there were also screenshots of selfies that she had uploaded. Her hair was dyed a hideous blonde, her clothes were skimpy, and she could afford to lose some pounds. As the cherry on top of this distasteful cake, she looked as if she were at least thirty.

The more I looked, the more I understood what the scandal was about. She was always complaining about her voice acting gigs and about VTubing, and she was constantly replying to attractive male voice actors’ tweets to arrange to meet them in real life.

“Since all of this came to light,” Elena explained, “she’s made her personal account private and stopped tweeting from her VTuber account as well. A lot of people started hating her, including some of her old fans. They kept writing mean things to her, like ‘you killed Sakurajosui’...”

“Coming back wouldn’t be easy at this point, huh?”

“Not at all. She’s probably going to retire.”

As sad as it was, she was partly responsible for her own downfall. After becoming a famous VTuber, she should have stopped tweeting those kinds of things and deleted what she’d already written. She knew there was a possibility she could be found out...

Elena was looking at the floor with a concerned expression. Seeing a colleague go through so much trouble must have been hard for her.

“Maybe next time it’ll be me...” she murmured.

“You mean, somebody finding out who’s behind Emily Saionji?”

“Yes... The company I work for has pictures of all their voice actresses, including me, on their website, and they also told me to post on Twitter regularly, which I do. I can’t help but feel scared that some day the fans will find out who’s voicing Emily Saionji and be terribly disappointed, as they were with Sakurajosui. Disappointing the fans is the last thing I’d want to do...”

“M-Minami. Even if they did find out it’s you, I doubt anyone would be disappointed,” I said.

Elena was pretty much the perfect fit for Emily. She actually liked yuri and she was similar not only in character, but also how she looked. Her normal speaking voice wasn’t that different from the one she used for Emily.

Which is why being with her makes me feel as excited as if I were standing next to Emily...

The main advantage that Elena had over her unfortunate colleague, however, was how beautiful she was. That alone meant that her situation would be completely different... not that I could ever tell her that.

“I’m happy you’d say that, but I can’t ignore that possibility. It’s terrifying. I hear a lot about people who stopped being fans of this or that character after finding out who voiced them because the actress was too different from their expectations...”

“People really go that far?”

“They do. But of course, I still want to give my best not only as a VTuber, but also as a voice actress. Right now I can only take on very minor roles, but one day I want to voice a big anime character; one who actually has a name. But the more I focus on voice acting, the more I risk being found out as Emily’s voice...”

“I’d love to hear your voice in an anime! I don’t think you should give up on your voice acting dream because of that, even though it’s a totally different career from VTubing. Maybe one day the fans will find out, but hey, you can cross that bridge when you get to it. There are loads of VTubers whose identities were discovered without any scandal, right?”

“I... I guess you’re right! After all, I started VTubing because I like voicing characters so much. If I gave up voice acting, then it would have been pointless,” she said before looking at me again. “Your words helped me out of a bad place again... Thank you, Ichigaya.”

“Huh? I don’t think I’ve said anything worth a thank you.”

“But you have! I feel so much better after talking with you. Actually... if it’s not a bother... could I ask for your opinion on one more thing?”

“Of course! Lay it down!”

The very fact that you’d confide in me at all is a pleasure and an honor!

“Thanks! So, my VTuber job has become so much easier, but there’s something that has me worried.”

“Oh? What would that be?”

“Well...”

Elena trailed off at the sound of raindrops hitting the window.

“It’s raining?” she asked, surprised.

“It started pouring all of a sudden. Do you have an umbrella with you?”

“I do have a small folding one, but the forecast said it’d be sunny all day...”

“That’s the rainy season for you. Ah! The laundry!” I remembered, running to the balcony to grab the clothes before they got wet.

I opened the balcony door, and... immediately shut it again.

“I-Is something wrong?” Elena asked. “Erm...”

Oh no! Did she see?!

“Were those... women’s clothes?”

Noooo! We spent so much time cleaning the house but left the clothes on the balcony! Nishina’s in charge of laundry so it never even crossed my mind!

“W-Well, er, that’s, you see...” I stammered, unable to produce a complete sentence.

“You have to bring them in, or they’ll get soaked!” she said, sweeping quickly past me, opening the door, and starting to take the clothes down by herself. Summer storms hit fast and hard—the laundry would soon be drenched.

“B-But...” I began, before giving up and following Elena onto the balcony to help her. All the while, my mind raced in search of an explanation, but I couldn’t come up with one.

“I think we got everything!”

“Y-Yeah. Thanks...”

“It’s nothing, really. But...” Elena was looking at me with a worried expression. She was probably considering whether it was okay to ask me about the clothes.

“Th-These are... a hobby! Yes, I collect these for fun!”

“A... hobby?”

The excuse I ultimately went with, if I may say so myself, was utterly ridiculous.

“I-It’s not like I crossdress, it’s just that, er, I like owning the same clothes as my favorite voice actresses, you see? That kind of thing!” I said, trying to make things slightly better, but ultimately making myself sound even more stupid than I’d imagined.

“O-Oh? I see...” she said, obviously suspicious.

“You know, it’s a collec—”

“Hm? You dropped something...”

I looked down, back up, then down again. But it was still there: a pink bra staring up at me from the floor. It had fallen out of my shirt at the worst possible time.

Aaaaah! I forgot to hide it in my room!

“Is that—?” Elena began to ask, but I quickly interrupted her.

“Ohhh, this?! This is just, um, my sister’s!”

With every excuse, I was digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself.

“Didn’t you say that you live by yourself?”

Rest in peace, Kagetora. Time to bury yourself completely. After all the trouble I’ve gone through to clean up the house and buy snacks, she probably thinks I’m some kind of crossdressing fetishist... And now she’ll hate me!

“I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a while, but you and Nishina live together, don’t you?”

“Wh-What?! Why?!” I asked, surprised.

“When we were taking in your laundry, I noticed a girl’s blouse. One from our school’s uniform... and some of the clothes we took in are the kind of thing that Nishina would wear.”

She realized our secret just by looking at our laundry?!

“Minami... I’m sorry I lied to you!” I said, bowing my head down. “It’s just as you said. We live together. I’m so sorry.”

“Y-You don’t need to apologize,” she replied as she looked at me, befuddled. “So the two of you really are dating...”

“Huh?! No, we’re not! The reason we’re living together is a reeeally long story. I’ll ask Nishina to come here so we can explain it to you.”

I decided that having Kokoro explain her side of the story was the safest choice, since I didn’t know how much my roommate actually wanted to reveal about her own situation. So, I messaged her.

“Minami found out we’re living together. Can you come back home? I should explain stuff to her...”

“What? How did she find out?!!!”

“We took in the laundry when it started raining and she saw your clothes. Anyway, can you get home by yourself? It’s pouring.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think of the laundry...”

“Yeah, don’t worry. Just come home.”

After around ten awkward minutes waiting with Elena, Kokoro finally arrived home.

“Hi...”

“Welcome back...”

“Hello,” Elena greeted her. “Did you walk all the way here through this rain? You’re soaked through...”

“Here,” I said, handing Kokoro a towel.

“Oh, thanks,” she said, using it to wring out her hair. “So, how much did you explain?”

“I’ve only told her that we live together and that we aren’t dating... I wasn’t sure how much it’d be okay to say about your personal stuff.”

“Okay then. Listen, Minami, I’m gonna explain from the start...”

“O-Of course!”

“Ichigaya and I ran into each other at this matchmaking party, where we, like, found out that we were both looking for otaku dates...”

Kokoro went on to recount the story of how we’d become roommates, including how we were helping each other, how my parents lived overseas, and how her parents believed that she and I were actually dating.

“I know it’s super hard to believe, but that’s what happened. I’m totally sorry we lied to you. We’ve gotta hide this from everyone, because if someone at school found out, you know, people would talk, Ichigaya’s parents would find out, and I’d have to move away from Japan. He’s been helping me keep it a secret.”

“Ah, I see now. Thanks for letting me in on it. As unbelievable as it sounds, it explains a lot. In short, you and Ichigaya are not dating, right?”

“Of course not! Not in a thousand years! I’m looking for a guy that’s waaay different than him, and he’s looking for someone who’s nothing like me!”

“You can say that again!” I agreed, vigorously nodding my head.

Hearing how offended we were, Elena started giggling.

Does she believe us? I know I’d have a hard time believing this myself. I thought she’d be mad at us for lying, but she already forgave us for that. She’s just so kind. Then again, why is she grinning like that? Did we say something funny?

“Minami?”

“Oh, sorry! It’s just that earlier, when I saw that uniform, I thought the two of you were boyfriend and girlfriend. I was already so surprised, but then I saw that cute, frilly apron...”

“Oh, that’s the one I use when I cook,” Kokoro said.

“When I saw that, I couldn’t help but think of you and Ichigaya as a lovey-dovey couple, with you cooking for him wearing nothing but the apron...”

“What?!” Kokoro cried in horror, as her face flushed a new shade of red.

“I started imagining how the two of you, who are normally so distant, are actually deeply in love with each other. And then my brain went rather wild...”

“I-It’s just an apron! I wear clothes under it, jeez!”

“I’m really sorry, there was just a scene like that in a yuri manga I read recently.”

She came up with all of that just by looking at an apron? If Minami’s not a hardcore otaku, then I don’t know who is. At least I’m glad she’s having fun instead of being mad at us.

“Anyway,” I said, “we’re really sorry. I wish we didn’t have to lie to you like that. If there’s anything I can do to make up for it, tell me! It can be anything!”

“Not at all! I was the one who asked you to let me come over so impolitely.”

“Actually, me too!” Kokoro said. “If there’s anything I can do to apologize, let me know!”

“There’s no need to apologize, really. But there is something I would like to ask you,” Elena said, turning to Kokoro. “You cosplay, right?”

“Hm? Yes, kinda,” Kokoro replied.

“Have you ever heard of Wonder Festival? It’s an event about anime, figures, and things like that. The company that I voice act for has asked me to go on stage and cosplay a character from a new anime that’s going to be released soon. They gave me the costume, but I have to buy the accessories myself. The wig, the socks, the shoes, the makeup, and so on. I’ve never cosplayed before, so having someone knowledgeable giving me advice would be really helpful.”

I knew about WonFes—it was a huge event held at the Makuhari Messe convention center, near Tokyo. I’d never been there myself, but it would’ve been nice to go one day.

This must have been the thing that Elena wanted to talk with me about.

“That’s it? No problem!” Kokoro said. “I’ve never cosplayed at an event myself, but I know a thing or two about putting together costumes, putting on wigs, and stuff! I’m actually planning for my first convention too, so the timing’s perfect! Let’s do our best together!”

“Thank you so much! Though I should also mention...” Elena paused, embarrassed. “The costume I’ll have to wear is rather... revealing. I’m really nervous about wearing it, so if you could tell me how to feel comfortable in clothes like those, then...”

“What? But you have such a nice figure! You’d look super hot in anything! What costume is it?” Kokoro asked. I, too, was very interested in what kind of revealing costume Elena had been asked to wear.

“This one...” she said, pulling out her phone to show us a picture. For something that was supposedly a full “outfit,” the costume that she showed us barely covered anything at all: the top was little more than a shiny bra with frilly sleeves accompanied by some frilly cuffs at the wrists. The bottom was a skirt so tiny that it served no purpose at all, and was seemingly held up at the waist by a couple of ribbons. I’d seen swimsuits less revealing than that.

I looked at the picture, cleavage and navel and all, and imagined Elena wearing that exact outfit. Swallowing my excitement took a decent amount of effort.

“It’s a cosplay of the anime’s heroine.”

“Wow! It’s super cute! But yeah, it’s very skimpy. It’s kinda like a bikini with a skirt, isn’t it?”

“Yes... They said they’ll make the skirt a tiny bit longer so at least my underwear won’t show, but it’s still embarrassing, especially because I have to wear it in front of so many people. Nonetheless, I want to do my best, since it’s part of my job.”

“Hmm... What about going to a convention as a cosplayer to get used to wearing similar stuff?” Kokoro suggested.

“The company rules actually state that I can’t cosplay in public if it’s not for them. They don’t want pictures to get around.”

“Then we’ve gotta think of another way to get you used to it...”

I can see how cosplaying on your own time as a voice actress could be a problem... but is there really no other way?

“Oh,” I remembered. “I was just reading a news article about a voice actress who went to a nighttime pool party.”

Aaand that sounded like I wanted to invite Minami to the pool... I thought, but Kokoro seemed to like my idea.

“Some friends of mine have been going to events like that—the ones in hotel pools, you know? They say they always get great pictures out of them. Ichigaya’s got a point. What’s the big deal about a skimpy cosplay if you’re used to wearing a swimsuit around strangers?”

“That would be even more revealing, yes... I’ve always been interested in events like that, but so far I’ve never found the courage to go out in a swimsuit,” Elena said.

“Me neither. This could be a good opportunity for both of us to, like, wear a swimsuit at the pool, and then cosplay feeling a bit more used to it.”

“Would you go there with me?” Elena asked Kokoro.

“Sure! I said I’d do anything to apologize, and I wanna get used to wearing those kinds of outfits as much as you do!”

“Really?! That takes so much of the pressure off! Now I’m looking forward to it!”

Even though I’d brought up the topic myself, I was still surprised that they would actually decide to go through with it.

These two are going to be at a pool, wearing swimsuits? That’s going to gather some attention. Not that I’ll be there to see, but—

“Would you like to come too, Ichigaya?”

“H-Huh?!” I replied, taken aback by Elena’s suggestion.

“What?! Him too?” Kokoro exclaimed, as surprised as I was. “Hmm... No, wait. That could actually be a good idea. I’ve heard that there are a lot of men going around the pools at night trying to pick up girls, so having him with us would be safer.”

“Are you two serious?” I asked them—not because I didn’t want to go, but because it felt weird that they would want me to.

“What’s up? You don’t wanna come?”

“No, no. That’s not what I mean. Okay, fine. I’ll tag along.”

“Cool! Now we just have to go and buy swimsuits! There are a few cute ones I’ve been eyeing for the looongest time, but I never went ahead and bought them because, you know, I didn’t feel comfortable wearing one. But I’ve got to sooner or later, right?”

“Right! After school, we could go shopping for swimsuits together!” Elena proposed, earning a nod of agreement from Kokoro.

With our plan sorted, Elena went to take a look out of the window. “It’s still raining, but not as hard anymore. I should probably head home. I’ve abused your hospitality enough already,” she said.

“Not at all! And you’re free to come over whenever you want!” I said.

Kokoro and I walked Elena to the station, where we parted ways for the day. It wouldn’t be long, however, before we saw each other again—we’d promised to go to the pool together, after all.

“You had me scared for a while when you told me she’d found out! I’m sooo glad she was cool about the whole thing,” Kokoro said as we headed back home.

“Yeah,” I agreed, still thinking about something that seemed more important to me—I was going to go to the pool with Elena and Kokoro. What kind of dream is this?

“By the way, that festival she was talking about... It’s a pretty big event, isn’t it? Maybe that’s where I could go and cosplay! I could root for Minami when she’s on stage, and we’ll probably get to meet a ton of other cosplayers!”

“Hmm... That’s actually a good idea!” I said, eager to see Elena and her skimp—Elena and her passionate performance.

“Then I’d better hurry up and decide who I’m going to cosplay! There’s no time to lose!”

“You already have some costumes lying around, don’t you? Are you going to use one of those?”

“Buying a new costume would be fun, but I haven’t worn the ones I have now at any actual event, except for that meetup we went to. That would be a bit of a waste. And even if I bought a new costume now, who knows if it’d get delivered in time! The festival is in late July, so we only have a month or so left... But which character should I go with? Apart from having fun, I also wanna meet male cosplayers, so it’s gotta be a character popular with guys. What do you think?”

“From the costumes you own, I’d say either Yumeno☆Saki, Unithorn from Adore Lane, or someone from IMS.”

“Okay! I’ll do one of those then. I have to choose as soon as possible, since I still don’t have the wig and colored contacts for some of them. And you’d better prepare too, so that any cute cosplayers you meet will actually like you!”

“Prepare? Like... how?”

I’m going to attend as a cameraman, not as a cosplayer. What do I even have to prepare?

“You’ve obviously gotta clean up again, and you know, as a cameraman, maybe you should get, like, a camera?”

“Uh, yes... I don’t have one, now that I think about it.”

“Me neither. The one on my phone can only do so much, so I was thinking of buying one to get better cosplay pics, but they’re sooo expensive! Lately I haven’t been able to save up any money either.”

What kind of impression would I give off as a camera-less cameraman, armed only with my lousy phone?

“Maybe I should go and buy a cheap one,” I said. “Just so I look the part.”

“Oh, and also, in case you run into a cosplayer who doesn’t have a business card, you should make ones of your own—as a cameraman, you know? You could add your Twitter handle or something on there, so that if someone likes you they can follow you or message you.”

“I don’t know about that...”

I’m not enough of a cameraman to have a business card, am I?

“Anyway, let’s do our best! We’ll go to that festival, cheer on Minami, and meet loads of hot cosplayers!”

“Mm-hmm...”

Kokoro was as excited as it gets, but I had something else on my mind. Let’s say that I actually met a cute cosplayer at the event and ended up becoming friends with her. Wouldn’t that mean completely giving up on Mashiro? Would I be fine with that?

She still hadn’t replied to my last message. A sensible person would have probably realized that it was time to move on by now. But as long as there was a possibility—no matter how small—that she’d eventually message me back, I didn’t want to have any regrets.

As soon as I got back to my room, I opened up Twitter to check the message history between me and Mashiro.

“Huh?”

There was no history. There was nothing.

This account doesn’t exist.

She’d actually deleted it. I’d only been able to message her before because it takes a certain amount of time for an account to disappear after the owner decides to delete it. But, as Mashiro had said, after that time passes, it’s gone forever.

Mashiro’s Twitter—my only means of communication with her—was gone. If I wanted to hear from her again, I had no option but to go as a customer to the maid café where she worked.

However, despite telling me that she’d considered dating me, Mashiro had intentionally cut the only bridge that connected us without even sending a reply. I wanted to talk things over again with her, but she obviously wasn’t of the same opinion. How could I go and meet her at the café knowing that?

While I was lying on the bed trying to process the sadness of the situation, my misery was interrupted by Kokoro, who was calling me from downstairs. She was in charge of cooking today.

“Dinner’s ready!”

I picked myself up and trudged down the stairs, meeting Kokoro in the living room.

“I’m already looking forward to my next cosplay! It’ll be at a proper event this time!” she said as she happily laid our meal on the table. “What’s with the long face?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing...”

I took a seat next to her on the couch and we started eating.

“No, really, what’s wrong?” she asked after a while.

“Well... Actually, just before dinner, I tried messaging Mashiro again.”

“Oh? And...?”

“And I couldn’t, because she’s deleted her Twitter account.”

“What?! But why would she do that now?”

“Not now; it must have been around a month ago. That’s how long it takes for an account to be deleted from Twitter. As for why, she said something about how it’s pointless to have tons of people like you if the one person you actually want to like you doesn’t, or something like that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“No idea. All I know is that I never got a reply, and now her account has disappeared. That means she doesn’t want to talk to me, doesn’t it?”

“I can’t speak for her, but would she really delete her whole account just because of you?”

Would she? I wish I knew, I thought to myself, grateful that Kokoro seemed to care so much.

“You two didn’t exchange LINE accounts?”

“Nope.”

“The café Twitter accounts have DMs disabled too. That means that if you want to talk to her, you’ll have to go to Meow’d Maid...”

“I definitely don’t have the courage to do that.”

“Yeah...”

Maybe it was time for me to forget about Mashiro. She didn’t seem to want to talk to me anymore, and in any case, I had no way of contacting her.

I remembered her saying that she thought she liked me, but, since she hadn’t replied to my message, that must have meant she’d changed her mind. That realization hit me pretty hard.

“Say, when we went to that company event, didn’t you pick up some girl? How’d that turn out?” Kokoro asked.

“We just said hello to each other on LINE right after the event, but that was it.”

To be honest, Yume had slipped my mind, though our exchanges had been so brief that I couldn’t really help it.

“What was she like, anyway?”

“She was very, very cute. She was wearing this... What would you call it? A gothic lolita outfit? She worked for the Maid-Tale Café, if I remember right.”

“Oh... Then, if I checked out that café’s account, maybe there’d be a picture of her on it.”

“Actually, we followed each other’s private accounts, so there are probably pictures of her on there,” I said.

“For real?!” Kokoro asked, surprised.

I pulled out my phone and found Yume’s account. Her profile icon was a selfie, and there were other pictures of her in her tweets.

“Wow, she looks so sweet! And that sure is lolita fashion, all right. How did you manage to get her LINE?”

“I just helped her find something she’d dropped, and she said she wanted to thank me, so she just kind of naturally gave me her contact.”

“She gave it to you?! Then she must be totally into you!”

“We haven’t really messaged each other since then though...”

“Why don’t you try to message her then? You could invite her out or something.”

“I thought about it, but I don’t have the courage to do that either. We only met in person once.”

“Sheesh, you can’t just go and waste opportunities like that!”

“But what else am I supposed to do?”

“Just reply to one of her tweets or something! And when you’re more familiar with each other, then hit her up on LINE!”

“Ohhh... I see,” I said, convinced by Kokoro’s suggestion. It sounded much easier than messaging her out of the blue.

I decided to look at her timeline and reply to one of the tweets that I could actually hold a conversation about.

“You’d better try your luck with this girl, on Twitter or wherever else. Maybe that’ll help you get over Gojo. And, who knows? When we go to WonFes, you could meet your future girlfriend there. A girl cute enough to make you forget all about Gojo! New love is the best medicine for a broken heart!”

New love, huh...

Before learning the truth about Mashiro, I really had liked her. Afterwards... I still kind of liked her. But I couldn’t keep thinking about her forever. I had to find my ideal girlfriend within the next two years, before graduating high school. And to do that, I had to keep moving forward. Kokoro was constantly doing her best, and I had to do the same.

“Yeah, you’re right!”

Speaking with Kokoro had a strange way of helping me sort out my feelings.

I need to wallow less and act more. I’ll try to become friends with Yume and maybe meet some cosplayers at this event. There’s no point looking back. I have to do what I can right now.