Chapter 97 — I Thought Only Manga and Novels Had Girls Who Seduce Everyone Without Noticing...

I'd only just woken up and was watching a clip of Nacchan when a private call came in from Aki. The moment I picked up, she apologized out of nowhere.

"...Huh? Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Ah... right."

Now ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that she mentioned it, that had happened. After that match I'd strung together three wins in a row, and if I counted the victory from the first game, that made four. A single loss hardly mattered. I hadn't even been in a bad mood to begin with.

If I had to compare, it was far better than that Iztomo from the opening match — not in the play, but in the spirit of it. Picked apart, Aki's play had only been a problem because her character was Michael. On anyone else, it would have been the textbook response. Running into two teams at once, one from each side, was the worst case there was; ordinarily you check both sides just enough to force a three-way standoff. The disaster had only happened because Michael had no tools at all for answering an opponent alone.

...Well. If someone asked whether I'd had no complaints whatsoever, that would be a lie. It simply wasn't anything that called for an apology.

"I-I'm all right, Aki.... It was j-just a game, anyway...."

Of course, even if I still carried the mind of a Korean man who had once staked his parents and his very life on a game, I had no desire to fall out with a fellow second-gen like Aki over something as small as a match.

"Mmm...."

It was true that after yesterday's stream I'd gone ego-surfing the way I always did, and this time quite a few people were saying Aki had gone too far. Someone had even written the absurd nonsense that she disliked me and was tormenting me on purpose.

I, the person it had actually happened to, hadn't thought much of it. I'd figured that if I left it alone the noise would die down by itself — and now that an apology had arrived, I had even less idea what to say.

"...Eh?"

For a moment, my thoughts stopped cold.

"A-a-anything I want? J-just one thing?"

Hold on, Aki. That is a genuinely dangerous thing to say. You do not say that over something this small. No — you shouldn't say it no matter what happens. Does she have any idea my mental age is a middle-aged man in his forties? Well, of course she doesn't!

Still. Anything I wanted, just one thing. Refusing, and telling her there was no need, was obviously the decent thing to do. But if I thought about it, I was the injured party here, wasn't I? Aki had offered because she truly wanted to apologize, so accepting might do the both of us some good. Which meant I ought to think about what I genuinely wanted, and say it....

"Hik—!"

Could Koga actually know? That I'd been reincarnated — that this was my second time through life, and that mentally I was a middle-aged man in his forties? The worry began to creep in.

"Uh, th-that's, um.... C-could I th-think about it later?"

It was absolutely not because Koga scared me. I simply couldn't come up with anything I wanted on the spot, that was all...?

"Hehe.... Th-then, I'll just...."

I was about to say I'd be going when Aki spoke again.

"...Ehh?"

What Aki meant, put simply, came down to this. She wanted to smother the Calamity — the rumor that things were bad between us, that she was bullying me. Leaving it alone would have been fine, but the manager had suggested it was better to stamp the talk out before it swelled for no good reason.

With Koga, I'd done an offline collab before anyone else, and we even had a unit — Shiroki no Umi. Akabane played the same game as I did, and she'd come to the high school festival and gone around with me. Utsumi and I had gone on a date, then capped that same evening with an offline collab of our own.

Among the second generation, Aki was the only one who had never spent time with me one-on-one, and she seemed quietly put out about it. I'd thought she was the sort of person who wouldn't care about something like that at all. It was more of a surprise than I'd expected.

"Th-then we just n-need to do an offline collab...?"

An offline collab was an incredibly dangerous undertaking, of course, but the person I was now could manage it. If this was something Aki had been bothered by, I could endure it just fine.

"...Huh? But at the start you said you wanted to put out the Calamity...."

Hearing that answer, I understood. A lifetime of subculture had trained me for exactly this. Aki was a natural — the kind who seduces everyone around her without the slightest awareness. The sort of person whose ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠words, perfectly pure in her own mind, land on everyone nearby as temptation, until she has built a harem around herself without ever noticing.

I had been certain that kind of person could not exist outside manga and novels. Reality, as ever, outruns imagination.

Still, because subculture had forged me, I could spot it at once and brace myself. Anyone else would never have caught on. No — the members of Stars Flow might already be Aki's captives....

"Th-then let's... think about that later."

"Uh, um...."

Let me think. Where would actually be a good place to meet Aki? By nature I was more comfortable staying home than wandering around outside, and Aki was the same. There was no need to go out and walk around the way I had on that date with Utsumi. Surely the best plan was for one of us to visit the other's house.

"A-Aki. Then...."

I had just settled on that conclusion and was about to offer it when—

Aki made the suggestion herself.

...Lately, something had shifted.

No. More precisely — ever since I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠joined Stars Flow and started working as a VTuber, hadn't I been going outside more? The thought came to me on the way to Aki's house.

Take summer break alone. The times I had gone out could be counted on one hand. Aside from a trip to Akihabara to reserve Nacchan's merch, and a convenience-store run for cola, I hadn't left the house at all. Koga had come to our place for an offline collab, of course, but that hadn't been me going out.

And yet, at some point, plans that dragged me outdoors kept appearing. New Year's Hatsumode. The offline collab with Utsumi. And now today's plans with Aki.... To think something like this was happening once a month. Maybe it was all right, now, to call myself a bona fide social butterfly. The thought began to take root.

"Heheh...."

All that aside, I never expected Aki to set a plan this suddenly. The fact that she thought of me as close enough for it drew a laugh out of me before I noticed. The awkwardness between us hadn't vanished completely, but I still wanted to get as close as I could with a fellow debut-mate.

So what, exactly, would we do today at Aki's house? Since we were meeting at home, we'd decided to stream an offline collab as well. Aki had said she would prepare the content, so all I had to do was show up and enjoy it.

...Were we just going to read Mycarong, like normal?

While I was thinking it, I finally arrived in front of Aki's house. She lived in a detached house, the same as I did — and a fairly spacious one, at that. Now that I thought about it, she had said she lived with her family. Did that mean I was about to meet Aki's family today?

The moment the thought got that far, a shiver of nerves raced down my back.

M-my stomach just lurched. Would it be all right if I turned around and went home...?

Well. Obviously, that was not an option.

"Hm? If you meet my family, is that a burden? My family's all nice, though...."

I wanted to answer that that wasn't the problem — but the moment I met Aki's guileless eyes, earnest in a way that said she truly believed it, I gave up.

"And today they'll probably all come home late, so it's fine."

"Th-that's a r-relief.... S-so what are w-we doing today?"

"...Hehehe. I got something fun ready...."

...Wh-what on earth did you prepare.