2

“I hope I have the right place...” I whispered to myself.

There was a long line of people in front of that Akihabara karaoke shop, full of both girls and boys who looked older than me. Many of them were talking to each other, and I realized that most people had probably brought friends along. Having come alone, I considered coming up with an excuse to go back home, but I remembered that same-day cancellations weren’t allowed.

So I, Kagetora Ichigaya, got in line too.

The event I was going to attend was called the “Otaku Meetup & Matchmaking Party.” My reason for going there was obvious: I wanted an otaku girlfriend.

I became an otaku back in grade school and, since then, have only had eyes for fictional girls. However, in middle school, I started watching a lot of rom-com anime and, also because of that, started wishing I had a real girlfriend. Of course, I couldn’t just date anyone. She’d have to be an otaku too.

If I were a more casual otaku, just watching anime every now and then, any old girlfriend wouldn’t be an issue. But someone like me, who spent considerable amounts of time and money on gacha games and anime swag, needed a girlfriend who could match his power level.

Then we’d be able to watch anime together, have fun singing karaoke, and maybe she’d even cosplay my favorite characters for me. That’s why I needed an otaku girlfriend.

Unfortunately, there was no one who fit the bill at my school. The girls in the manga club weren’t really my type, and they probably didn’t like the same stuff as me anyway.

I was into works full of cute girls, but they were more into anime with sparkly dudes, Boys’ Love (yuck), and girly gacha games. I didn’t eavesdrop on them, but they always talked so loudly that I was forced to listen.

Since the situation at school was like that, I’d looked online for another way to find my ideal girlfriend. That’s how I found out about the “Otaku Meetup & Matchmaking Party.”

Hosted by a matchmaking company, it was an event where otaku could look for friends and dates with similar interests. Minors couldn’t usually join this kind of thing, but no alcohol was being served, so there was no age restriction in place.

The party would be in a large karaoke room with a standing buffet, where all the attendees could get unlimited drinks. Reading about it, I’d been excited to turn up.

If possible, I’d wanted someone I knew to come with me, but my only otaku friend from school said he wasn’t interested, so I had to suck it up and go by myself.

This is a huge chance for me. It’s no time to be scared! I promised myself that I’d find the ideal otaku girl and get her number! I clenched my fists and mustered up all of my courage.

When it was my turn to enter the room, the staff greeted me.

“Hello! Let me check your reservation. One man, no women. Correct?”

I paid the three thousand yen admission fee and received a name tag. The name I wrote on it was what I’d be called for the duration of that day. What should I choose?

After thinking for a while, I wrote the handle I used online, ShadowTiger, and pinned the tag on my chest.

I was too caught up in my nervousness to take in the people around me, but now I noticed just how many there were. There were barely any couples, though the party had only just started.

I wonder if there’s a girl my type; long black hair... pure, feminine looks...

I opened my eyes wide and scanned the room. All of the girls are kind of meh.

“The bar is now open for orders!” called one of the staff members, directing us to the counter.

During the short time I’d spent checking out the girls, several boy-girl pairs had already formed.

I have to hurry up and find a cute girl!

Unfortunately, all the decent girls were already busy chatting with other guys. Ugh! Too late!

I looked even harder, trying to find someone who was still free. In a corner of the room, I saw two average-looking girls silently staring at their phones. They weren’t exactly my type, but I realized that if I kept nitpicking, there’d be no one left for me to talk with. That was the one outcome I had to avoid at all costs, so I started walking toward them.

However, just a few steps away, I stopped dead. My legs wouldn’t move any further.

What am I even supposed to say to them? “Hi, where are you from?” No way! That’d be just like trying to pick them up!

As I imagined a conversation with them, a realization dawned on me. I’m no good at talking to girls, am I?

I couldn’t even approach girls at school. Being alone in an unfamiliar place made it even more difficult. Impossible, actually.

Why did I think I could do this? What the hell was I thinking when I signed up for this party?

I probably thought that I just needed to show up and things would magically turn out fine. Maybe someone would even talk to me first, or I’d be able to find a reason to go up to them.

As if. I always convince myself that I can do things that are clearly impossible. It’s a bad habit of mine. I should stop fooling myself.

Sighing, I made up my mind. Enough. Time to leave.

I’d signed up for the party, came all the way here, lined up, and actually entered the joint. That was a feat in itself for an asocial otaku like me. Well done, Kagetora.

If I didn’t reassure myself like that, I’d probably start crying. In order to pay the entrance fee, I’d had to sacrifice a considerable amount of my gacha funds and lunch money. Not to mention, I’d wasted a whole day off school.

But I’d rather blow three thousand yen than have to spend one more minute in this place.

I started walking—almost running, actually—toward the exit, when...

“Ouch!”

“Ah! I’m sorry!”

I bumped into a girl.

I continued to apologize while I turned to look at her, then froze in place, shocked.

“What...?!”

I’d seen her before.

No wonder I’d seen her, since we went to the same school. I’d never spoken with her, but she was in the same year as me, and her class was right next to mine.

What is she doing here?!

Kokoro Nishina. She was so popular that I knew her name even though we were in different classes. She’d stood out from the very first day of school.

Kokoro had a lot of friends and looked like she’d seen her fair share of guys’ bedrooms. Most of the popular boys were into her. However, except for her clothing and hairstyle, she was actually a diligent student with decent grades. Or at least, so I’d heard.

I took a good look at her. Dyed hair. A short, red dress that revealed her shoulders. High heels. Large earrings. Makeup that even I, who didn’t know the first thing about makeup, could tell was flashy. You would never expect a girl that looked like this to show up to a party aimed at otaku. So why was Kokoro Nishina, renowned popular girl and normie extraordinaire, attending a party like this?

I looked at her face again and noticed she’d turned terribly pale.

“You seem familiar. Could you be... from school?” she asked me, fumbling for words.

“Oh, Two-Heart-san! We found you!” a couple of men called out to her. “You ran away like that, so we’d been looking for you!”

The approaching duo were as stereotypically otaku as you could get. Their faces, their clothes, their rambling speech: they had it all (not that I’m one to talk).

They kept creeping closer and closer to Kokoro, who looked clearly distressed.

“Ah, s-sorry, I ran into an acquaintance, you see...” she said, grabbing my arm.

“Huh?!”

“Acquaintance?” one of the two men asked.

“He’s a f-friend of mine... I need to talk with him. See you later!” she said, successfully escaping the men while dragging me with her. I had no idea what was going on.

My only experience with being touched by girls was when they accidentally bumped into me on crowded trains. To be honest, having my arm grabbed like that was enough to make my heart race. The sweet smell that permeated the air around her (Shampoo? Perfume?) was making me dizzy.

Kokoro left the two men hanging there, dragging me out of the karaoke room and into the light of the stairway landing.

Once we were out of sight of everyone else, she stared up at me.

“I don’t know your name, but we go to the same school, right?” she asked, still pale for some reason. “Why are you here?”

“I’m just here for the party. Why are you here? You aren’t even an otaku,” I replied, annoyed at how she’d made it sound like I wasn’t allowed to be there.

Now that I could take a better look at her, I understood why she was so popular. Even in the first year of school, she was well-known for her good looks and, sure enough, she was cute enough to be on TV.

Her face and body were close to perfection. Of course, so were her outfit and hairstyle. I wasn’t exactly a fashion expert, but even I could tell that she was on another level from most other girls at the party.

However, I wasn’t into gyaru or slutty-looking girls. I didn’t want anything to do with them.

I never hid the fact that I was an otaku, which the gyaru in middle school made fun of me and bullied me for. I was so traumatized that I’d started avoiding social interaction altogether, sitting by myself in a corner of the classroom trying not to be noticed by anyone.

That was why gyaru, no matter how cute they were, brought me nothing but fear.

Kokoro Nishina, especially, was the exact opposite of my “long black hair” and “pure, feminine looks” dream girl.

“For the party? Like, you want to meet otaku girls?” she asked me, confused.

“Y-Yeah.”

“I see. So, you’re an otaku too,” she said, and her expression relaxed a little bit.

Wait, what did she just say? You’re an otaku... too?

“I guess you do look like one,” she added after looking me up and down.

“What?!”

What’s that supposed to mean?!

Her comment was rude and unwarranted. I’d done my best to clean up for this party.

“More to the point, what are you doing here?!”

“That’s...” she dropped her gaze with a troubled expression.

After a moment, sighing deeply, Kokoro looked back at me as if she’d found the courage to say something very important.

“Isn’t the reason obvious? I want a boyfriend who’s an otaku like me!”

“What?!”

An otaku like me? Her? This gyaru? An otaku?! And she’s here to find an otaku boyfriend?!

I knew that there were otaku so good at hiding their power level that you’d think they were normies, but this was hard to believe. After all, she was the most popular girl at school.

“Anyway, I won’t tell anyone that you were here, so please keep it a secret! I beg you, don’t tell this to anyone!” she pleaded.

“Uh? Ah...” I was so taken aback by how desperate she sounded that I couldn’t even answer her properly.

“I don’t want people at school to know I’m an otaku! And if my classmates found out that I came to a party like this, it’d be the most embarrassing thing in the world!”

“Sure, fine. But would it really be that bad if people knew?”

Sometimes, popular girls in my class—even if they weren’t full-fledged otaku—talked about anime and gacha games. I assumed that someone like Kokoro, who was so high up the school’s popularity ladder, wouldn’t really be made fun of even if she were an otaku.

“It’d be worse than bad! It’d be terrible!”

“But some of the girls in my class also talk about anime and stuff...”

“They’re not otaku! They just watch anime, and that’s it! Those casuals know nothing about doujinshi, or Comiket, or cosplay! Even then, the other girls say things like, ‘Wow she’s such a total geek’! Just imagine what would happen to a real hardcore otaku like me! I’d lose all my friends and be shunned like a creep!” She explained her point without drawing a single breath.

If what she said was true, not only was Kokoro an otaku, she was a pretty serious one at that.

“Okay, I get it. I won’t tell anyone, all right?” I finally answered, still shocked by her intensity.

“Really? Not a soul?” she asked, blinking up at me. She looked terrified.

“Yeah.”

“A-Aren’t you going to, like, blackmail me? Like, you won’t tell anyone as long as I do something in return?”

“Excuse me?”

“You know, like...” she said, blushing, “if I want you to keep the secret, I have to obey all your orders, or become your sex slave, or...”

“What are you talking about?! You read too many weird manga!” I yelled, unable to contain my surprise.

That kind of thing only happens in X-rated doujinshi!

“I’m not going to blackmail you or anything. I won’t tell anyone that you’re an otaku!”

“R-Really?!” she said, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Oh... Thanks.”

The fear slowly drained from her face.

I’d read some light novels where the heroine would blackmail guys with their dirty secrets, but I wasn’t that cruel.

“Still...” Kokoro leaned against the wall, sighing heavily. “That threw me for a loop. I didn’t think I’d run into someone from school here.”

That makes two of us, then.

“By the way, what’s your name?”

“K-Kagetora Ichigaya.”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve heard of you.”

“Sorry I’m so unpopular!”

“Hey, I never said that... Hm? ShadowTiger...?” she mumbled, reading the name tag on my chest.

“Wait, wait!” she said, starting to laugh. “Is that because your name is Kagetora? Like, did you literally translate your name into English?! That’s so cringey! That’s the cringiest edgelord name ever! Hahaha!”

“Shut up! I thought it’d be easy to remember. I just wrote the first thing that came to mind!” I said, as my face began to glow with embarrassment.

I always use this for games. Is it really that cringey? Damn it, I’d better come up with a new name then...

“Anyway, you’re one to talk!” I said, reading “2♡” from her own name tag. “Two-Heart! The Ni from Nishina, meaning two. Then Kokoro, meaning heart! You’re doing the exact same thing!” I said, raising my voice.

“Not at all. It’s witty and cool!” she replied.

If it’s “witty and cool” to “literally translate your name into English.”

“Anyway, how’s it been so far?” Kokoro asked.

“How? What?”

“The party! Did you meet any decent girls?”

“Hmm...”

The shock of running into Kokoro had made me forget about everything. But now, I recalled the situation I was in, having come to this party looking for a potential girlfriend, only to be ready to turn tail and go home.

“Well, to be honest, it’s not been great. There aren’t any cute girls.”

I didn’t want to admit that I was going home because I didn’t have the courage to speak to anyone.

“Huh? All these girls, and none that you’d consider cute? Do you have the highest standards ever? How many girls have you talked to, anyway?”

I looked away, not wanting to answer her.

“Hey! Did you hear me?”

“It’s just that...”

“I couldn’t hear the last part! What did you say?”

“It’s just that... I still haven’t talked to anyone...”

“What? None at all?! After all this time?!” she gasped, appalled.

“But what am I supposed to do about it? It’s easier for girls, since you just have to wait for someone to come and chat you up! But for boys it’s different. We actually have to go and start the conversation!”

“Why are you getting mad at me now?! And don’t think girls have it that easy! Boys can talk to any girl they like. That’s nice! But we can’t even talk with the guys we like because we get approached by others first.”

“At least you can talk with someone! Do you understand the struggle of being alone while everybody else is chatting and having fun?!”

We were still arguing over which of us had it worse when we heard a voice from inside the room.

“The otaku meetup is almost over! Thank you for joining us!”

“What?!” We exclaimed in unison, shocked.

Over?! Kokoro and I rushed back into the karaoke room, but the staff was already showing everyone to the door.

“Please leave in an orderly fashion!”

Before we knew it, we were caught up in the crowd and ended up back outside where we’d started.

One of the groups we’d left with was discussing where they’d go next.

“Wanna go to karaoke together, just us?”

“Sure! Let’s go!”

Kokoro and I watched them from afar.

The party was over, and she was the only girl I’d spoken to. Since I was planning to leave early anyway, I guess it’s all the same...

“The party’s finished? Just like that?” Kokoro said to herself, dismayed.

“I prepared so much for this! It was the only chance I had! I got my nails done, bought a new dress, and even practiced in front of the mirror! And I only managed to speak to two guys that I didn’t even like, and you! And it’s finished already? No! It can’t be!”

Judging by how devastated she was, Kokoro had probably been looking forward to this party a lot, even more than me.

“Can’t someone like you just get a friend to introduce you to someone? You don’t seem like the type who’d have trouble dating,” I said. Unlike me, Kokoro was popular. Did she really need to come to a party like this?

“I already told you that I’m hiding the fact that I’m an otaku! And I want my boyfriend to be an otaku too! That’s why I could never search at school or through my friends!”

Hm? But doesn’t that mean...?

“So I decided to be brave and came all the way here, but now it’s over.”

“So you mean,” I asked her, “that you’ve never had a boyfriend?”

“How are you still not getting it?! I want an otaku boyfriend, but I can’t tell any of my friends. Isn’t it obvious that I haven’t?!”

So she’s just like me? She’s never dated anyone?! I can’t believe it! That slutty-looking Nishina has never dated a boy!

She still wasn’t my type at all, but at least I felt like we had something in common. We both wanted to find someone with the same otaku hobbies as us, but couldn’t find a date at school.

An asocial boy and a popular girl, facing the same problem. What a joke.

Sad and disappointed, we started walking toward the station.

“Say, Ichigaya... Do you have any otaku friends?” she asked me, her eyes shining with newfound optimism.

Does she hope that I can introduce her to a potential boyfriend? She’s even more desperate than I thought.

“I have a friend at school, a few online, and then some from back in middle school.”

“Oh!” She was already excited. Shallow gyaru.

If all that she was looking for in a boyfriend was his otaku taste then I’d have no problem introducing her to someone. But...

“Let me ask you something though. Exactly what kind of guy are you thinking about?”

“Well... He has black hair and doesn’t catch the eye but he’s actually good-looking. He takes care of himself, he’s kind of aloof but really kind to his girlfriend. He’s great at games and is certainly not a casual. He has to be, like, a real otaku. He doesn’t mind if his girlfriend is into really deep stuff or BL, and, possibly, he even likes that stuff himself. He’s loyal, he’s thin and tall, he’s up to cosplaying with me...”

“Otaku like that don’t exist!” I interrupted her.

Her expectations are way too high!

“No way! I’m sure there are lots of them! I’m not asking for a model or anything. And I’d be fine with someone who’s not quite handsome, in that male voice actor sort of way.”

“Are you dissing male voice actors?”

“Fine then, you tell me. What kind of girlfriend are you looking for? Earlier you said that there were no cute girls, as if you’re fashion magazine material or something.”

We’d argued all the way to the Showa-Dori entrance of Akihabara station, so we moved away from the crowd, continuing our discussion next to one of the columns.

“What kind of girl? Let’s see...” My imagination ran wild as I conjured up the image of my dream girl.

“She has to be a beautiful, innocent kind of girl who likes the same stuff as I do. You know, like anime, gacha games, and other things with cute girls in them. Not BL or otome games. Also, she should be kind and caring, have long black hair, pale, fair skin and be shorter than average. Preferably my age or younger. She should never have dated, shouldn’t have any male friends and...”

“Are you dumb?”

“Huh?!” I didn’t understand what she was trying to say. Dumb? Me? Why?

Kokoro was looking at me with disdain.

“Are you for real? Did you hit your head? You really think girls like that exist?” she asked.

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you!”

“First of all, how can you come out of a party like that saying that there were no cute girls? Lower those standards of yours, will you? Maybe try and look in a mirror for once?” she continued.

Is it me or am I being insulted?

“I-I don’t think I’m handsome or anything! Anyway, you were the one who asked about my ideal girlfriend! You have no right to say things like that!”

“It’s not even about being handsome! You aren’t taking care of yourself in the slightest, but you want her to be cute! That’s the crazy part!”

Kokoro’s words were like a critical hit straight through my chest.

“Not taking care of myself? I wore my best clothes for this party!” I said, my voice shaking.

“And that’s what you came up with? That weird rock band T-shirt, those cheap-looking jeans, a skull necklace, and sneakers that look like you bought them with your mom in grade school? You’re like the first result when you look up pictures of clothes for nerds!”

“Wh-What did you just say?!”

My knees grew weaker and weaker as she continued.

“Before you come to a place like this, shouldn’t you at least buy a fashion magazine or go to a trendy place like Shibuya or Harajuku and see what the other boys your age are wearing?”

I clenched my fists in anger.

Though I didn’t want to admit it, when it came to clothing, Kokoro definitely had the upper hand.

“But otaku girls probably want someone who looks like them, not some kind of stud!” I said.

“Sure, most are probably like that. That’s why there were so many girls at the party today. The average otaku probably wants a boyfriend who’s an otaku as well; one that accepts her taste and is interested in it, takes care of himself, and, if at all possible, is a little bit good-looking,” she said.

“I see?”

“Nobody wants someone like you, whose looks just scream otaku. And more importantly, you said that you’d rather she not be into BL or otome games, didn’t you? An otaku looking down on another’s taste is the absolute worst, just so you know. A boyfriend who isn’t into anime but doesn’t complain about my taste would be a thousand times better!”

I was already shocked, but this was the finishing blow. It’s not like I hated all fujoshi just because they liked BL and otome games. I just preferred girls who weren’t into that kind of stuff. Am I really asking for too much?

“Who are you to speak for all otaku girls anyway?!” I asked.

“I’m an otaku girl, that’s who!” Kokoro replied.

So she’s giving me advice as one otaku to another? But I can’t let her say all that stuff to me without hitting back at least once.

“Anyway,” I said, “you’ve been laying into me all this time, but you know, even if otaku girls don’t like me, otaku boys wouldn’t like you either!”

“Huh?!”

Out of nowhere, the pressure that had been building inside of me caused me to explode.

“A handsome, but not too handsome, guy with black hair who’s good at games, was it? Even if a guy like that existed, he certainly wouldn’t want to date someone like you!”

“What?! How would you know that?!”

“I’m also an otaku! I know all about the things an otaku boy looks for in a girl. And pretty much all otaku boys want a cute, innocent, simple, meek otaku girlfriend to talk about otaku stuff with. That’s the exact opposite of you!”

“The opposite?! Innocent, meek...?” Kokoro started mumbling to herself, completely astonished.

“A-And... you’re sure of that?” she asked.

“It applies to almost all otaku guys, yes.”

“Then... teach me. Teach me how to become the kind of girl that otaku look for!” she shouted.

“Huh?”

She stared at me, her eyes welling up with tears.

“If you do, I’ll teach you how to become a boy that otaku girls actually like. I’ll even help you find places to meet them!” she said.

“R-Really?!”

“But, in exchange, you have to help me as best as you can too! Like, telling me what kind of girl otaku guys want, introducing me to your otaku friends, or just helping me look for someone!”

Up until now, despite wanting an otaku girlfriend with all my heart, I had no idea how to go about it. Everything would be easier if Kokoro, who was an otaku herself, helped me out.

“Okay then! I’ll help you find an otaku boyfriend. I can’t really introduce you to my friends, since none of them are probably your type. But I can tell you how you should act if you want to be liked, and I can help you find the right places to look for them. So you better help me as well!”

I knew exactly what kind of girl otaku were looking for. You might say I was an expert. My knowledge would definitely be helpful to Kokoro.

It sucks I wasted so much time and money coming to this party and that I’ll be going home with nothing to show for it, but maybe it wasn’t totally worthless after all.

I hadn’t found a girlfriend but, at least, I found someone who shared my objective. She was a gyaru, the type of person I hated the most, and she’d done nothing but insult me, but it was much better than going at it alone.

“Perfect! If that’s decided, then come home with me!”

“Oka— What? Home?!”

＊　＊　＊

“Whoa.”

The sight of Kokoro’s house amazed me. The whole neighborhood had nothing but big, fancy houses, and hers was no exception.

“I texted Mom and told her I’ll be bringing a friend back,” she said.

“Oh, okay.”

She’d surprised me by inviting me to her house out of the blue, but she’d explained that it was just to use her computer. She wanted to look for potential spots to find otaku dates, but her phone was almost out of data and there’d been no Wi-Fi nearby.

To be honest, the idea made me nervous. I hadn’t been to a girl’s house since kindergarten.

Will her parents mistake me for her boyfriend or something? How should I even act?

“Hm? The door’s locked...” Kokoro murmured, as she tried to open it.

She looked at her phone. “Oh! Mom got back to me. Right, she’s out with friends today.”

“What?”

“Oh well!” She shrugged it off, putting her phone back in her pocket, pulling out a set of keys, and opening the door.

W-Wait, but this means that... My heart was pounding in my chest, and my hands were shaking. More nervous than expected, I froze in place.

“What are you standing there for?” she asked, confused, waiting for me to follow her inside.

“I-It’s just... Y-You see...”

How can she be this cool about it?!

Of course, I didn’t even like her like that and I didn’t think that anything would happen just because we were by ourselves. But still! A boy and a girl, alone together...!

“You aren’t getting any weird ideas, are you? Stop it! We’re just going to look up some stuff online!” she said, countering my nervousness with a mix of hate and disgust.

“I-Ideas?! I was just worried about going inside your home without your parents’ permission!” I replied, angered by her attitude.

She really knew how to be annoying. The fact that I’d get nervous because of someone like her made me even more annoyed.

I made up my mind to ignore the fact that she was a girl, and marched inside the house after her. We went through a hallway, a huge living room, and up the stairs, reaching Kokoro’s room.

As soon as she opened the door, a sweet floral smell enveloped me. Just moments ago, I’d decided not to think these kinds of things, but this was too much for a virgin like me. I think I’m going to pass out.

Up until third grade, I was able to talk to girls just fine. Then I fell down the otaku rabbit hole. Ever since, I haven’t had a single friend of the opposite sex. I even got nervous talking with old ladies in my neighborhood, let alone girls my age.

And now, somehow, I was walking into a girl’s room, all alone with her. I hope I’ll be able to leave in one piece.

“Oh...” Kokoro said all of a sudden, glancing at me. She sighed with a look of disappointment.

“What’s your problem?” I asked her.

“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking that the first boy to come into my room isn’t even my boyfriend. Not only that, but it’s you of all people,” she said.

“Me of all people?! You’re the one who told me to come inside! Isn’t that rude?!” I replied, outraged.

I’m the first boy she’s ever invited to her room? I thought she’d had more experience of that kind, but you really can’t judge a book by its cover.

I took a deep breath and looked around me.

The walls and furniture were all shades of pink and white, giving off extremely girly vibes. There were shelves lined with shojo manga, a corkboard covered in photographs of Kokoro with her friends, and the bed was full of heart-shaped cushions and plushies.

It was exactly what you’d expect from a girl’s bedroom. However, I noticed something strange.

“It doesn’t look like an otaku’s room at all,” I said.

“Oh, of course. I’m keeping it a secret from my family.”

“Why would you do that?”

“My parents disapprove of otaku culture. They have their reasons,” she said sadly, looking away from me.

Some parents were like that. But this meant that Kokoro had to hide her passions not only at school, but at home too. I didn’t know just how deep into it she was, but for someone like me, that’d be hell.

“Oh, by the way, I’ll show you something cool! It’ll be the first time I show this to anyone, actually!” she said, suddenly beaming with excitement. I had to admit, the way she changed expressions so fast was pretty cute.

Something she hasn’t shown to anyone? What could that be?

She opened a drawer, took out a key, and used it to unlock a closet.

Why would anyone keep their closet locked?

She opened it. I saw what was inside, and could no longer speak.

Stacks of manga. Manga magazines. Anime magazines. Game magazines. Anime Blu-Ray boxes. Voice actor concert DVDs. CDs. Character keychains. Rolled up posters and tapestries. Hoards of male character plushies. Figures of all shapes and sizes.

“Wh-What is this?!” I exclaimed, unable to believe my eyes at some of the figures inside. They were mostly blushing, handsome male characters, but the one that had caught my eye was pretty much buck naked.

“Oh, this one? This is the preorder bonus for Dramatic Mayday, a super-popular BL game! He’s so detailed, isn’t he?! Ryokuha is kind of the uke to all the other boys. He’s sooo hot, right? His face is the cutest, and the way his abs cut into his crotch is to die for! The figure was so limited that I had to line up in front of the store for hours!”

Kokoro was rambling as I’ve never heard her before. Her voice, much faster than usual, was dripping with lust and pride.

Is she okay? Do girls really say things like that?!

She was much more of an otaku than I gave her credit for. Her slurred ramble was a perfect example of creepy otaku talk. The girl in front of me was like an entirely different person from the Kokoro at school.

“You buy BL games at a store?!” I said.

“Isn’t that normal?”

“And what is this?!” I’d noticed something even weirder than the lewd figure.

There was a bag hanging from the wall of the closet. It was covered in so many pin badges and keychains that I couldn’t even guess what color it was supposed to be. All those accessories pictured the same handsome blond guy from a boy idol game, or something. I didn’t know enough about girls’ games to recognize him.

“Is that... an ita-bag?!” I asked. Ita-bags: bags entirely covered in otaku merchandise. I’d seen them on Twitter before, but never in real life.

I could understand having several pieces of merchandise of the same character, but having dozens of copies of the same pin badge was just insane.

“Why do you have all these pins?”

“I unconditionally collect all Kaoru Hashimoto merchandise,” she said.

“Unconditionally collect...” I repeated, scared by the implication of those words. Does she just hoard anything she finds with that character on it?

In the span of a few seconds, I had to come to terms with the fact that Kokoro was probably even more of an otaku than I was.

“And then, I’ve also got—” she started saying, excitedly reaching to open a drawer.

“Enough! I got the point!” I interrupted her, desperately getting her to stop. It was for my own safety. “Now I understand why you keep your closet locked.”

“Yeah, if my parents found all this, I’d die on the spot!”

“But,” I said, recalling what she’d said about her parents, “you have to hide your power level both at school and at home. Isn’t that tiring?”

“Is it? I’m so used to it that I don’t even notice. Do your parents know about you being an otaku?” she asked, locking the closet and perching on a cushion. She gestured toward another for me to sit on, so I joined her.

“Yeah. I’ve never hidden it, even when we lived together.”

“You mean you don’t live with your parents anymore?” she asked.

“Uh-huh. I live by myself now.”

“Living by yourself while you’re still in high school? Is your life an anime or something?”

“My dad was transferred overseas for work, but I didn’t want to move away from Japan, so I convinced him to let me stay here.”

It had been half a year since both of my parents, together with my little sister, had moved abroad. They’d tried to make me go with them, but that would mean I’d have to move to India.

If I moved there, there’s no way I could watch Japanese television anymore. I’d have to stream anime, but apparently internet speeds in India aren’t that good. There’d be no guarantee that I’d find all the anime I wanted to watch online, and I didn’t like watching it illegally to begin with. And if my connection was that poor, I wouldn’t even be able to talk to my friends or play gacha games. Not to mention that, in India, I can’t get my hands on the latest manga.

Since becoming an otaku during grade school, I’ve surrounded myself with anime, manga, and games. I loved the Japanese otaku culture with all my heart, and I couldn’t imagine moving away from it. Without it, what would I have to live for?

I was so desperate to stay that I talked my parents into leaving me behind. I’ll do all the housework and study at the same time, but I don’t want to live somewhere where I can’t enjoy my hobbies. Let me stay in Japan by myself, is what I’d told them.

At first, of course, they disagreed. They said that I was too young to live by myself, since I was still in high school. So I continued bothering them any chance I could get, and showing them that I could take care of myself. Eventually, they gave in.

Dad told me that, if I really felt so strongly about it, I’d be free to try living by myself. If everything went as planned with his job, they’d be back in Japan in around two years, after my high school graduation.

I had to promise that if my grades dropped drastically, or that if, when they came back on vacation, he saw that I’d let myself go too much, I’d have to follow them to India. That was how I started living alone while my parents sent me money to get by.

On top of my studies, keeping up with the housework was tough at first, but the idea of being able to retain my otaku lifestyle kept me motivated until I was used to it.

Even now, I didn’t cook all my own meals, mostly eating premade stuff from supermarkets, convenience stores, and bento shops. The stuff I did end up cooking wasn’t particularly fancy. Mom told me that, even if I didn’t want to cook every day, I should eat nutritious meals and avoid unhealthy food. I was managing to do that much at least.

I usually took care of cleaning and doing the laundry on the weekends. It all worked out surprisingly well. After all, I hadn’t joined an after-school club, which would rob me of my precious free time.

“You’re tougher than I thought, huh. And you’re super serious about being an otaku,” Kokoro commented, impressed by my explanation. “But I guess I’d do the same. I don’t want to live abroad! Like, I can’t even imagine not having access to the internet. I want to watch anime as soon as they come out. And I need to buy character merchandise and cosplay items...”

“I guess that’s true for all otaku,” I said.

“Yeah... Oh, we’ve been wasting too much time! We should get started!” she said, turning on her laptop.

“I need to find a place to search for otaku guys. What should I Google? ‘Where to find otaku boys’?”

Just as we were looking up our first spot to seek otaku romance, we heard the front door opening.

“I think Mom came back,” Kokoro said, opening her door to check downstairs.

“Ah!” she said, immediately closing it.

“What’s wrong?”

“Dad’s back too! Why now?! If he sees you here, I’m in trouble...” she said, her eyes wide with dread.

“I don’t care if Mom knows you’re here, but Dad... He’s always asking me whether I have a boyfriend or a crush or something, so he’d probably get the wrong idea.”

“Like, an ‘I’ll kill you for trying to touch my daughter’ kind of idea?!”

“No, not like that. He’s kind of a hopeless romantic, you see. He said that if I get a boyfriend, I have to introduce him...” Her words trailed off as we heard footsteps getting closer.

“Oh no! They’re coming up! Quick, hide!” she told me.

“Hide?! Where?”

She grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet.

“Quick! Get inside!” she said, opening another closet. This one was packed with clothes, but there was just enough space for someone to hide, although uncomfortably.

There was a knock at the door, and my heart skipped a beat.

“Kokoro! Are you home?”

“W-Wait! I’m changing!”

I squeezed into the closet as Kokoro closed it from the outside. It felt weird being there, in the darkness, surrounded by the smell of her clothes.

“I’m done!” she called, after making sure the closet was shut.

I heard the door opening and more footsteps.

“D-Dad, what’s up? I thought you had work...”

“Oh, I had compensatory leave today. Anyway, do you have a moment? There’s something important we should discuss.”

“Hm? Didn’t you say you’d have a friend over today, Kokoro?”

“Ah, that’s, uh, she said she couldn’t come last minute! Anyway, what’s the important thing?”

Kokoro’s parents paused for a moment, their tone suddenly serious.

“Darling, tell her...”

“Yes. Kokoro, I know it’s sudden, but next month I’ll be transferred overseas.”

“What?”

Even I, eavesdropping from inside of a closet, was surprised.

“I’ll be working in England for a while... and I want you and your mother to come with me.”

“To England?!”

Transferred to England starting next month? They’re going to move overseas... That’s exactly what happened to me! What are the chances?

“It’ll only be for a year and a half, so we should be able to come back to Japan in time for you to graduate high school.”

“N-No...” Kokoro stammered, as if she were about to cry. “I-I don’t want to be away from you, but even more than that, I don’t want to be away from Japan!”

“Kokoro! What are you talking about?!”

“I want to stay in Japan by myself!”

“Are you serious? Whatever for?”

“Because... I have my friends and hobbies here...”

I understood how Kokoro felt. After all, I’d felt the same way just a few months ago, and seeing her closet stash told me just how much of an otaku she was. Enough to creep even me out.

“Hobbies? What kind of hobbies? Can’t you just do those in England?” Kokoro’s mother asked, but her daughter remained silent.

There’s no way she could come out of her otaku closet if her parents disliked the idea so much. That’d only give them more reason to take her away from Japan.

“M-My friend’s dad moved abroad earlier this year, and now they’re living alone, just fine. I can do it too! I can study and do chores, no problem!”

Is she talking about me?

“Studying and doing housework isn’t the problem. The problem is a girl as young as you living by herself. We can’t let you do something so dangerous.”

I remembered how shocked I’d been when my own parents told me that I’d have to move overseas. There were lots of reasons why I hadn’t wanted to go: not knowing the language, feeling that I probably couldn’t make any friends there, and so on. But the most important one was that I didn’t want to leave my beloved otaku culture behind.

Right now, I was probably the only person that understood how Kokoro really felt. However, her parents had a point. It was too dangerous for a high school girl to live by herself. I had to do something.

This probably won’t work. Or it’ll make things even worse. But I have to try!

There was only one way to save her.

“Ahhh!” I jumped out of the closet, much to the surprise of Kokoro’s parents, who were now screaming.

“What?! Who’s this?!”

“I-Ichigaya?!”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Kagetora Ichigaya! I go to the same school as your daughter!”

“Wh-Why were you inside the closet?!” Kokoro’s father eyed me warily. I must have looked incredibly suspicious. Reasonably so.

“I wasn’t doing anything weird! Nishina and I don’t have that kind of relationship! She just invited me over to hang out, that’s all,” I said.

“E-Exactly! I told you that I had a friend over, remember? But since he’s a boy, I thought Dad would tell me off, so I asked him to hide!” Kokoro, despite her surprise, played along with me.

“So, I’m very sorry, but I overheard your conversation just now. I know it doesn’t concern me, but...” Both her parents stared at me as I rambled.

“If you’re worried about Nishina—I mean, Kokoro!—living alone, she could just come and live with me!”

“What?!”

“And I even have a free room in my house! It’s a really safe place, in a good neighborhood where nothing dangerous ever happens.”

“Ichigaya...?” Kokoro looked at me, just as confused as her parents.

To be honest, I was confused myself, hardly believing the words that were tumbling out of my mouth. I just believed that, after that conversation, I was Kokoro’s only chance of staying in Japan.

My house had two floors and a single spare room. Although Kokoro’s parents would be away for a year and a half, mine wouldn’t be back for two years, so that wouldn’t be a problem. We’d just need to hide her when my family was here on vacation.

Nonetheless, I realized the flaw in my reasoning. It might be a good neighborhood, but, to her father, the most dangerous part was me, a boy.

Of course I didn’t want to do anything to their daughter! And even if I did, there were plenty of reasons why I probably couldn’t. Making them believe me was a long shot, but I had to try. Kokoro’s face was frozen with concern.

“What is your relationship with my—” Her dad started speaking, but Kokoro interrupted him.

“Y-You’re always telling me to find someone I love and to bring him home as soon as I’ve found him, right? I never told you because I was too embarrassed, but Ichigaya is my boyfriend!”

“Huh?” Her parents were speechless, absolutely shocked. Just as I was.

What the hell did you just say?!

“And you also told me that if I fall in love, I should value that love over everything else, right?! So, that’s why I can’t leave Japan! I don’t want to move so far away from my boyfriend!”

“K-Kokoro...” The bewildered couple looked at their daughter, and then at me.

I kind of understood what she was trying to achieve. She wanted to make me pose as her boyfriend so they wouldn’t argue against her staying with me. But isn’t that going to make it much worse?

Having a boyfriend was one thing, but living with him? While both of us were still in high school? No normal parent would ever allow that.

“So, Kokoro, this is what you mean about not wanting to come with us...” her father said, gazing at his daughter and sighing.

“I met your mother when we were in high school. We were classmates. I was a troublesome, unruly student. She, on the other hand, was so diligent that she was chosen as class president. We couldn’t have been more different, but that’s why I fell in love with her.” All of a sudden, he was reminiscing about his school days.

“Because I was pretty much a delinquent, your mother’s parents were opposed to us being together. We even thought of running away from home, but instead we spent years trying to convince them. Eventually, the day came when they gave us their blessing for us to marry. So... I know how both of you must be feeling.” He glanced from me to Kokoro with a melancholic smile on his face.

What is this guy going on about?

“I want to know more about you, Ichigaya,” he told me, “but if my Kokoro chose you, I’m sure that you’re a wonderful young man.”

“I, uh... huh?”

“Kokoro, you don’t want to leave him, no matter what, right?” he then asked her.

“Th-That’s right!”

“I see. To be honest, it’s hard to imagine living away from my own daughter. Even if it’s only for a while, it breaks my heart so much I can’t take it! But dragging you away from the boy you love... I can’t make my Kokoro cry like that. I know how it feels to have the world fighting against your love.”

He can’t be serious! That’s all the convincing it took?! Nishina wasn’t joking when she said that her dad was a hopeless romantic! He really puts romance above everything else...

But she won’t go along with it, I thought, exchanging looks with her mother, she looks more grounded.

“Kokoro,” she said, “I was actually very worried about you. You’re in high school, and you’ve never brought home a boyfriend, or even just a male friend. All this time I’ve been hoping you’d find love like we did. And now, to think that you had such a wonderful relationship and didn’t even tell us about it!”

Her concerned expression transformed into a smile.

“I’m incredibly happy for you. But you’re still so young. I don’t want you to do anything unbecoming. If you can promise me that, you have my permission.”

I was struggling to understand how two adults could be so easily convinced by their high school daughter.

“Please, make our Kokoro happy,” her father said, offering me a kind smile.

“Uh?! Ah, I... Yes!” I replied, going along with everybody else in the room.

I was the one who’d started it, but I certainly hadn’t expected things to play out like this.

We moved to the living room to talk things through over dinner.

Kokoro’s dad kept asking probing questions about his daughter and how we started dating, so I had to make things up on the fly as best as I could.

After a thorough interrogation, he somehow liked me even more, telling me that, “now that I’ve spoken with you, I’m positive that you’re a fine young man.”

“However,” he continued, looking at us worryingly, “just as your mother said earlier, you’re both still in high school. Even though you’re already planning on getting married, you should be aware that there are some boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed yet, do you understand?”

I know, sure, but...

“Huh?! Dad, don’t say creepy things like that! I’d never do anything of the sort with him!” Kokoro exclaimed, disgusted.

Does she really have to phrase it like that?! I’m trying to help her out here!

“Oh? Really?” her father asked, surprised by her outburst. After all, that didn’t sound like something a teenage girl would say about her boyfriend.

“I-I would never think of doing those things before marriage! That’s, like, out of the question!” she said, blushing. You could tell that she wasn’t lying. She didn’t look like it at all, but maybe, deep down, she wasn’t as laid back about these things as I thought she was.

“I think so too! You have nothing to worry about!” I agreed, and her dad’s face seemed to relax.

After dinner, her parents asked if they could talk with mine. However, since they were abroad, I insisted that I should be the one to tell them about it.

And so, it was decided that Kokoro would be living at my house for the next year and a half, until her father was transferred back to Japan. We set up the date and everything. She’d move in with me just before her parents left.

My self-proclaimed new father drove me home, but I found myself continuing to panic.

Nishina... living with me?! We’re not even dating! How am I going to survive?

I crashed onto my bed, my head spinning with all the possible implications of living with a girl. I was completely exhausted, but I couldn’t forget my responsibilities, so I took out my phone to grab my daily login bonuses and do some in-game missions.

However, my exhaustion got the better of me, and I fell asleep with my phone in my hand.