Then, Miss Kayano. First... Would You Take Off Your Clothes?

I am not the type who goes to hatsumode—the first shrine visit of the new year. I used to, of course, back when the whole family went together, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but these days the feeling of do I really have to? has only gotten stronger. Since Dad passed, Mom more or less treats the visit to his grave as a substitute, and my sister lives on her own and isn't home, so for someone who likes staying in, the thought of going to hatsumode simply faded away on its own.

And yet here was Kurokami-senpai, offering exactly that.

"...What do I do."

Look at it simply, and the urge to refuse still comes first. No wonder: the first shrine visit of the year means an absurd crowd. I have no desire to wedge myself into the middle of that and burn through all my energy.

Look at it more concretely, though, and it gets awkward. I did swear I would change. Turning down a senpai's invitation for no better reason than there will be a lot of people is, when you think about it, strange. And this might even be a chance. If I mean to keep working at StarsFlow, I'll have to break the ice with everyone eventually—so if that beginning happens to be Kurokami-senpai, it might actually be for the best.

"...All right."

I've decided. Turn it over as many times as I like, and refusing a senpai because hatsumode draws a crowd is still ridiculous.

So.

"I'm heading out...."

"Have a good time."

The moment I stepped outside, a fairly biting wind came out to greet me. Going to a shrine packed with people in weather like this—someone who likes home as much as I do simply could not understand it. If I could have had my way, I would have claimed I'd suddenly taken ill and needed to rest at the house.... But lying to senpai sat wrong with me, and so, in the end, I was going to pay my respects in this cold.

Miss Koga and Miss Utsumi, too? StarsFlow is full of weird people....

What stood in front of me now was an enormous gate, and running out to either side of it a long fence that, as far as my eyes could tell, had no visible end.

"This is the place, right...?"

Not to brag, but Mom is a director at a well-known company, and our house is pretty well-off in its own right. This place, though... yeah. It was on another level entirely. Worrying that I might have come to the wrong address was pointless.

The address senpai had sent and the nameplate were both telling me, without any room for doubt, that this was the right place.

Last Dotsumachi, in the moment before senpai muted her mic, I was sure I'd heard something just like that. And that little scrap had been more than enough kindling to set several communities ablaze. One side insisted her family had only said it out of consideration, careful of a senpai who was live; the other insisted she really was a rich young lady in real life, too.

Ordinarily you'd trace a "past ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠life" and dig up something close to the truth, but with Kurokami-senpai that kind of tracking was meaningless. Like me, she was one of those rare cases in the current VTuber industry judged to have no past life at all. Of course, the exact opposite of me, senpai had never once caused a Calamity....

...Anyway. The correct answer in that debate had been the latter.

"Haa...."

Before I knew it, the time was 12:55. We'd agreed on one o'clock, so this ought to be about right. I let out a light sigh and slowly pressed the doorbell fixed to the massive gate.

Ding-dong.

Somehow, even the doorbell of a house this fine seemed to sound better. I was still turning that thought over when about ten seconds had passed.

"U-um, I—I'm Ka-Kayano, the one who, who promised to visit today...."

"Yes...."

I waited about ten seconds after that, and the gate opened. From inside walked a huge man in a black suit and sunglasses.

"You're the young lady's friend, yes?"

"Ah, uh.... Yes...."

The low, thick voice made me flinch before I could help it. And where exactly did the pride of a man in his forties go? But he had this incredibly long scar by one eye, and he looked terrifying.... Even a middle-aged man in his forties finds scary things scary. There is nothing strange about that at all.

"Ah, my apologies. My face is a little severe...."

"No, th-that's not—... I'm sorry...."

"Haha, I'm used to it, so it's quite all right. Normally I would have had the youngest show you in, but the rest of the security team is on leave except for me. I hope you'll forgive us."

It was a situation that could easily have offended him, and yet the man only laughed it off with an easy heh-heh.

...Huh.

He was an incredibly kind man. People really shouldn't go forming prejudices from a face. I should apologize properly in a little while....

"The young lady is waiting farther in."

"Okay...."

The inside of senpai's house was far wider than anything I'd pictured from the gate. The beautiful garden with its small pond was a garden, yes—but the wooden house standing in harmony with it was fantastic enough to call unreal. A residence only the young-lady characters in anime ever got to live in was sitting right in front of my eyes.

"Whoa...."

The whole walk across the wooden floors behind him, nothing but little gasps kept slipping out of me. That a house this huge could be kept this pristine was a wonder in itself.... Wonders, in any case, everywhere I looked.

"Young lady. Your friend has arrived."

"Yes. Thank you, Yuuto-ojisan."

"This is my job, after all."

While my eyes were still glued to this other world, we had arrived, somehow, in front of the room where Kurokami-senpai was.

"You should be fine to go in."

"Ah, th-thank you. And about earlier, I'm s-sorry...."

"Haha, it's really quite all right. Then I'll be going."

...So cool.

I have to become a cool man like that someday, too.

Setting that thought aside, I lightly knocked on the closed door.

"S-senpai. M-may I come in...?"

"Yes. Please, come in."

"Haa...."

I steadied my breath one last time, then slowly opened the sliding door.

"Welcome.... Or rather, would 'it's a pleasure to meet you' be the more accurate thing to say?"

Kurokami-senpai was pure.

"I am Shirasaki Shiro, eldest daughter of the Shirasaki family. Please take care of me."

"I-I'm Ka-Kayano Mina. Please take care of me, too...."

Not the kind of purity the VTuber industry likes to talk about—pure in the plain, literal sense of the word. Long, straight black hair holding a faint blue sheen, and reddish-brown eyes, breathed out a mysterious air. The softness of her gaze loosened my nerves on its own, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the slight lift at the corners of her mouth seemed to speak of how gentle she was.

She sat on a cushion in a kimono of black threaded with pink, kneeling formally with both hands laid neatly atop her lap, and that seiza looked utterly at home on her. She was clear and elegant—a beauty to whom the word classical fit almost too well.

Yes. It felt like looking at a perfect Yamato Nadeshiko.

"I'm truly glad to meet you like this, Miss Kayano."

"Ah, um, yes.... Um, Miss Koga and Miss Utsumi...?"

"The two of them arranged to meet us at the shrine at two-thirty."

"I see...."

Wait a second.

That meant, right now, it was just me and Kurokami-senpai. Alone with someone I was meeting for the first time—that was far too frightening a situation for me.

"Th-then what are we supposed to do from here...?"

"Hmm. Well then, Miss Kayano. First...."

I swallowed that fear and asked, and senpai answered with a smile that reached her eyes.

...Eh?

"Hehe. It feels like I've gained a little sister."

Well, of course senpai's request that I take off my clothes hadn't meant anything strange. It only meant I had to change into a kimono, and so I needed to take off what I was already wearing. Of course, once I was down to my underwear and senpai looked me over and let out a soft little heeh... of admiration, that part was embarrassing.

"Ah, the right collar needs to tuck inside there, Miss Kayano."

"Th-thank you...."

What I put on with senpai's help was a kimono in the red family. Once it was all on, the kimono Kaino Izumi had worn on yesterday's stream came back to me, and the feeling was strangely off.

"The obi will be hard to tie by yourself, so I'll help."

She said that, then came around behind me as if it were nothing and started working the obi. In an instant a natural butterfly knot was finished, and I couldn't help letting a gasp slip out.

"Y-you're incredibly fast...."

"Well, I'm used to it. But is there anywhere that feels tight, or anything of the sort?"

"Hmm...."

At her words I shifted a little to either side, just in case, but nothing in particular was uncomfortable.

"I think it's fine."

"Actually, this is something I wore in my first year of middle school, so I was a little worried. I'm glad."

...I'm a high school student right now.

Hearing that, I could feel in my bones exactly how small I was.

...Well, I'm still taller than Miss Koga, so it doesn't matter!

"Achoo!"

"Hm? Yuika-nee, do you have a cold?"

"...No. Hmm."