you shouldn't date her, right…?" Or maybe she was really coming after him, so he wasn't sure what to do? But he said he was the one who asked her out. Right? Mizusawa looked surprised by my comment. Finally, he looked down and laughed, and I could tell he was hiding something. Then he looked out the window and scratched his head. "You're not just being polite, are you?" he mumbled. "What?" "Nothing! Let's get going! …You sure do take a long time to pee, dude." "Oh, uh, gimme a sec." I wanted to say it was because I'd waited so long, but I didn't. At long last, I finished up, washed my hands, and headed back to the cabins with Mizusawa. That conversation was full of mysteries. Yeah. Everything felt unsettled. Guess some top-tier characters have problems that bottom-tier characters won't understand. * * * When we got back from the bathroom, everyone took a change of clothes and headed over to the hot spring a couple minutes' walk from the campground. "Okay, guys, let's meet here after we're done!" Hinami gave us instructions in the lounge before we headed off to the separate baths for men and women. There were showers at the campground, but since we'd come all the way out here and everyone loves the chance to sit in a big tub of hot water, we'd decided to go to the hot spring run by a different company. By the way, Takei had started complaining about how he didn't have anything to change into afterward. I guess the outfit he changed into after he got all wet at the river was his last one. He said he'd just put his current outfit back on. The guy is an idiot. "Don't stay in there forever!" Nakamura said, slipping through the noren curtains hanging outside the guys' bath. Mizusawa, Takei, and I followed him. He never missed a chance for a casual jab. Maybe the hierarchy was built from a subconscious accumulation of these kinds of comments. "Don't peek at us!" "We can't!" Takei shot back playfully at Mimimi's joking voice behind us.
I'm sure if he could, he would. The four of us went into the changing room. I was insanely nervous. I put my wallet in a locker, found an empty basket, and…would now have to take off my clothes. Stripping down with three normies made me weirdly selfconscious. Terrified, to be more precise. "What's taking you so long, dude?" Nakamura was making fun of me. He was already fully naked. His towel wasn't even wrapped around his waist—he was carrying it. A force to be reckoned with. Even an amateur like me could tell he was extremely fit from soccer and general athleticism. I couldn't help comparing myself to him or the sorrow that ensued. "Uh, sorry. I'm taking off my clothes now." "What's with you?" Withstanding Nakamura's suspicious gaze, I stripped down. My white skin and pudgy stomach were now exposed, the result of never exercising and spending all my time at home playing video games. Takei, who was already naked, pinched my stomach and laughed. "Tomozaki, you look like an old geezer!" "Lay off…" Takei was at least as buff as Nakamura. His big shoulders and powerful aura were impressive. This guy was huge. After that second sad reminder, I stuffed my clothes into a basket. "Not an old geezer…," Nakamura said, pinching my stomach. "A Moomin…no, a Fumin! You're in the Fumin clan!" Takei started cackling. "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Oh yeah, he's definitely a Fumin. Turn this way!" "Sh-shut up!" I made an effort to sound cheery. Not just Takei and Mizusawa but even Nakamura joined in the laughter for once. That was a first. "Hurry up, Fumin," Nakamura said as we headed into the bath. Takei cackled again. Oh man. I was the butt of the joke for all three of them. But when I thought about teasing them back, I had to admit I was the one with the saggy body, so there wasn't much I could do. Maybe this was essential training for the battlefield of tease or be teased. Mizusawa patted my shoulder as if to say Don't worry about it . I glanced back at him. He was a little thinner than the others, but I could still see the shadows from his muscles. I finally understood the appeal of the legendary lean macho man.
I glanced at my own pathetic body in the mirror as I shuffled slowly toward the baths. Yup, no surprise they'd make fun of me. * * * "Hey, Takei, how about this bath?" "Awesome!! Who'd guess a place like this had such a fancy bath?!" Nakamura gave Takei a sidelong glance as he charged full force into the cold water. Mizusawa and I were washing our hair next to each other and talking about the Nakamura-Izumi strategy. Meanwhile, Takei's screams ("It's so cold!!") were echoing off the walls. "So, Fumiya—er, sorry, Fumin." "You had it right the first time." Hinami had trained me well in this kind of comeback. Mizusawa chuckled. "Anyway, the question is, how do we use the information we've gathered to get them together?" "Yeah…" I glanced at Nakamura, who was soaking in one of the hot baths. Thanks to Mizusawa's nice work, we had gleaned quite a bit of new information since we'd made the initial plans at my house. Based on that—well, no question about it, those two were perfect for each other. "They definitely like each other, I think." "Ha-ha-ha, that is the key point." Mizusawa laughed. We'd more or less known that to start with, but now it was an established fact. "So now, if one of them would just admit it, they'd be dating." "Exactly. Our job is to remove the obstacles and make it as easy as possible for them." "Hmm…" In other words, the goal of the trip wasn't to make them like each other; it was to take two people who already liked each other and give them a little push to take the next step. What kind of plan was that? "Problem is, for those two, that's the hardest part." As he scrubbed his hair, Mizusawa sniggered, and I could tell he was trying to hold back a louder laugh. He looked genuinely happy; I could see it in his eyes. He seemed like a different person than the Mizusawa I'd been seeing lately, who stared into the distance and sounded lonely when he laughed. "Got any good ideas, Fumiya?"
I returned my attention to the strategy. I didn't have a plan…but I had a thought. "Well, I think the biggest obstacle in this situation is—" "I agree," Mizusawa interrupted me, nodding. ""Shimano-senpai,"" we said at the same time. "Yup. Her," Mizusawa said as he rinsed his hair. "If she wasn't an option, Nakamura would probably go for Izumi, huh?" "Ha-ha-ha, no question. She's leading him on." "But we can't do anything about it." Mizusawa frowned. "She's bad news," he muttered. "Bad news?" I remembered that he'd said the same thing on LINE, too. Mizusawa made a joking face. "I mean, she's always going after younger guys. She acts all suggestive, so she's got tons of guys to choose from." "Huh…?" His unexpected answer puzzled me. "Anyway, she's got good looks and a fun personality, so why shouldn't she play around with guys? And lots of them go right along with it. For half of them, it ends in a fling, and for the other half, they eventually develop feelings for her." His words sent a shiver down my spine. "S-so, Nakamura…" "Belongs to the latter half." "Ohhh…" I felt like I'd just heard something I shouldn't have. "He was actually her boyfriend for a while, so it's hard to blame him." "Huh, really?" In a sense, that information reassured me. I wouldn't have wanted to hear that he'd had a little fling and then gotten overly serious about it. Even though it would make him easier to mess with. "…Well, a bunch of rumors about her were going around even while they were together, but that's just part of her charm." "S-seriously…?" "Shitty, right?" I felt my smile twitching. "In that case…shouldn't we just say that to Nakamura?"
"Okay, question for you." "Huh?" Mizusawa pushed his wet hair straight back from his face and smiled. He was handsome even with his hair sticking up. "If we explained to Shuji that Shimano-senpai is a bitch who goes through men like tissues and he's only one of many in her stable of backups —do you think he'd let me tell him to forget her without a fight?" I couldn't help laughing as I imagined Mizusawa explaining this to Nakamura. "It would have the complete opposite effect." Mizusawa smiled. "Right? He'd stop listening to me completely. That's why I'm waiting for him to realize the truth himself. He did laugh when you straight up told him she was stringing him along." "Ah-ha-ha…" "But that's the situation. It's a tough one." Mizusawa stood up and walked over to the bath where Takei was doing push-ups in the shallow end and staying stuff like, "I could do this forever!" Mizusawa sat on top of him. "Glubub! Pah! What the hell?!" "Oh, sorry, sorry, you were going so fast I didn't see you." "Seriously? This speed is dangerous, man!" Takei was inexplicably pleased and started doing push-ups again. As I watched Nakamura and Mizusawa splash him in the face with water and push him under, I started to chicken out. There was no way I could keep up. But Hinami had given me a mission. I was supposed to mess with Nakamura and befriend Mizusawa. I steeled my will, stood up, and got into the bath where the splash-Takei competition was going on. I walked right up to Takei with no plan whatsoever. As I was struggling to decide what to do, given that it didn't feel quite right in terms of the mood or my assignment for me to join in the splashing, Takei lifted his face out of the water and looked straight at my crotch. "…Huh?" I was startled when I realized what he was doing. "Dude, your dick is huge!!" He started to splash around. "Seriously?" "I wanna see!" Nakamura and Mizusawa stared at my crotch, too, and yelped in surprise.
"Man, it's giant!" "T-Tomozaki…!" I could barely process anything anymore and sank down into the bath to hide, but it was too late. Mizusawa and Nakamura grabbed me, lifted me up, and examined the goods all over again. "L-let me go!" "This is crazy! It's as big as my forearm!!" Takei cried, and the other two started cracking up. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! His forearm!" Mizusawa laughed. "I'm changing Fumin to Forearm. Forearm boy. Farm Boy!" Once again, Nakamura had given me a questionable nickname. Takei laughed loudly. Come on, stop. Why do I have to get two new nicknames on a single trip to the hot spring? Still, among all the ruckus, I glimpsed a ray of light for my assignment. When he'd made fun of my body earlier, I was clearly inferior to him, so I couldn't return the jab. Basic abilities and routine training seemed to play a key role in the teaseor-be-teased war. In those terms, how did my current prospects look? I've never worried about average size or anything so I'm not sure, but based on his comments a minute ago, I might be bigger than him. Wouldn't that give me an opportunity to mess with him? If that was the rule, then maybe even a bottom-tier character like me could fight on equal terms or better in this particular ring. Giving myself over to this thin ray of hope, I directed my gaze at Nakamura's crotch and confirmed my suspicion. Oh yeah, I had a fighting chance here! I focused on making my tone sound as teasing as possible. "Wow, Nakamura, your dick is tiny!" Nakamura grimaced, but Mizusawa and Takei clapped their hands and laughed. Bam, two down! * * * The four of us were in the lounge after getting out of the bath, drinking milk and joking around about various topics related to my nicknames and Nakamura's dick.
Nakamura had been messing with me overtime since I'd made the comment, but I felt like his hostility had lightened. What was that about? "Drinking your milk, I see!" Mimimi was striding energetically out of the women's bath wearing shorts and a tank top, with a hand towel draped around her neck. She looked sporty, but with so much skin showing, it was inevitably sexy. Her cheeks were flushed and damp. I don't think she was wearing makeup, but she was so naturally pretty there was hardly a difference. I didn't normally think about it because she was so over-the-top cheerful, but she was incredibly gorgeous. "I think I'll have one, too." Hinami appeared from behind Mimimi. The first time I'd seen her without makeup, she'd softened her face so I didn't even recognize her, but right now with her regular expression, she still looked like the charming, pretty heroine. Her flushed pink skin, which even I could tell was perfectly smooth and firm, had the power to ruin a man, no question. "…" Izumi came out of the women's baths behind Hinami, her face turned down. She was half hiding behind her hand towel; maybe she didn't want us to see her without her usual heavy makeup. But based on the glimpses I got, even though she looked a little different from what I was used to, she mostly just seemed a little younger. If you're good-looking to start with, you're gonna be cute even without makeup. Like the other two, she was flushed, but I don't think it was from being in the bath. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes away from her comfortable-looking short-shorts and long legs.
When I looked at the three of them standing there together, I realized I was on an overnight with girls of this level, and I felt kind of weird. I was way underleveled compared to everyone else here, including the guys. At the very least, I'd better stand up straight… Ten or fifteen minutes had passed since we met up in the lounge and drank milk together. Takei homed in on the Ping-Pong table in the game room near the lounge, and we decided to play a few rounds. Hinami arranged a doubles match between Nakamura and Izumi on one side and Takei and herself on the other, although Nakamura and Izumi barely needed any prompting to make a team together. The Takei-Hinami pair was the result of Takei's desperate pleading. The guy was out there enjoying his holiday exactly how he wanted to. In the meantime, the rest of us could have a strategy meeting. With that in mind, Mizusawa, Mimimi, and I gathered around a small table in the lounge. "We were talking about it in the guys' bath, and we think the issue is…" "Shimano-senpai?" Mimimi realized where Mizusawa was going before he finished explaining. "Exactly. You're making this easy." "What can I say? She's a problem child." Mimimi smiled cynically. "But if we point that out to Shuji, he'll dig in his heels. So we were trying to figure out what we can do on this trip." "Hmm, good question!" Mimimi thought for a moment. "Think he'd be in denial even if we showed him proof?" "Proof?" Mizusawa asked, intrigued. "Well…," Mimimi said, taking out her phone. "How about this?" The screen showed a Twitter account for Pretty Princess, with a bunch of replies: "I'm not getting along with my boyfriend right now" and "Cool, let's go to Daiba!" and "Sekitomo High! Heard of it?" "Is that…Shimano-senpai's account?" I asked. Mimimi nodded. "All these messages are to guys from Saitama who she met on Twitter." "Damn. Seriously?" Mizusawa face-palmed. "So she's moved beyond our school…" Mimimi smirked again. "This started out as a private account that only some of her female friends knew about. Guess she thought no one would find out,
because she made it public recently, and now she's pulling this crap out in the open… All the girls are talking about it right now. If this is just the public replies, imagine what's going on in her DMs…" Mimimi swiped the screen, and thumbnails of all the images she'd posted in the past came up. As she scrolled down, there were selfies of her face, pictures taken in a full-length mirror of her wearing a school uniform, of her lying in bed in the same short uniform skirt, her legs stretched out, a close-up of her cleavage titled "Look at my necklace," a close-up of her thighs titled "Look at my tan." Huh. Her profile was full of them. "Th-this is…," I said in shock, "…way beyond what I expected…" "Right?" I understood now why she'd reacted so negatively when Shimano-senpai came up in the LINE group conversation. "If we told Nakamu about this, don't you think he would cool off?" she said. Mizusawa nodded, but he still looked skeptical. "What, you still think it wouldn't work?" "No, it's just—if you or me or Tomozaki told him about it, I think his lingering feelings would cool." "And? Isn't that the point?" "Yeah, but if he and Izumi ended up together during the test of courage after that…he wouldn't ask her out." "Uh, really? Do you know what he's trying to say, Tomozaki?" I said I didn't. "Well, if he were to confess his feelings to Izumi right after he learned about the Twitter account, he could be accused of jumping into her arms on the rebound." "Oh," Mimimi said, clearly convinced. "He's a proud guy, so you're saying he wouldn't do anything to make us think that!" "Exactly. He doesn't like to be teased." Once Mizusawa said that, I was convinced, too. It was related to the teasing involved in my assignment. For example, if Mizusawa told him about the account and Nakamura immediately confessed his feelings to Izumi, Mizusawa would probably give him hell. What's more, since I'd been messing with him during the trip, he might even worry that I'd tease him about it, too…leaving aside the question of whether what I'd done this far actually counted as messing with him, of course.
Since he occupied the top spot in the school hierarchy, Nakamura had to maintain a position that allowed him to give people crap without getting any in return. And in fact, I'd witnessed him many times messing with people at key moments and deflecting their attempts to push back—although I'm not sure if he was doing it consciously or unconsciously. In other words, Nakamura was highly likely to avoid any situation that would make him vulnerable, like the current one. At first glance, it looked like the stupidest kind of pride, but in the normie world—that is, within the value system of the school hierarchy—it was critically important. Through my assignments, I was gradually coming to understand that. "Hmm, so maybe we shouldn't show him the Twitter account." "Tough call. If we did tell him about it now, he'd probably make a move in the near future." "Those two are so wishy-washy. You really think either one would make a move on their own?" "Good point…and if they wait any longer, time will be slipping away…" "But we don't really have any other strategy, so maybe telling him is the only choice." "Could be." They were thinking about the issue so seriously. They really did have good hearts. I'd had the same thought at our first strategy meeting. Normies don't just think about themselves—a lot of them take the feelings of all members of their respective groups into consideration. Of course, that doesn't go for everyone, but maybe that serious consideration for other people is the reason they're popular and accepted—the reason they're normies in the first place. I would never have realized that just by sitting alone in my room playing video games. "It's gonna be tough to get things moving when we do the test of courage tonight." Although Mizusawa was frowning, he seemed satisfied with that conclusion. Still, I felt like I should contribute. I thought about it for a minute and finally hit on something. "Um…" "…Aha!" Mimimi said, grinning at me. "Has the Brain had a flash of inspiration?!" "Nothing that dramatic…" "Come on, tell us!" Mimimi was looking at me full of eager anticipation.
S-stop it! "Well…you said Nakamura wouldn't feel able to act even if I was the one who showed him the account, right?" "Yeah." Mizusawa nodded and looked at me searchingly. "Okay, so right now Nakamura and Izumi like each other, and Shimanosenpai has already done plenty to make Nakamura stop liking her…which means all the conditions for clearing the challenge have been met. Now it's just a game of connecting them all together." "True…but, dude, games again?" "He's a gamer, Takahiro. Let him have this!!" "Ha-ha-ha, true enough." Mizusawa nodded. "Anyway, to sum it all up, I think the game consists of showing Nakamura the truth without hurting his pride…" "Yeah, you could put it like that," Mizusawa said, nodding again. "But how?" I paused for a second, not sure if I should go on. But I did. "What if we weren't the ones who gave him the information…?" "You mean have someone else show him?" I nodded. "Like who?!" Mimimi asked. "Like…," I said hesitantly, glancing at the Ping-Pong table. "…Takei." "Takei?" Mimimi sounded puzzled. "We work it out so Takei tells him, and everything gets smoothed over." That was all I said, and then I waited for their response. "What would that—?" "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Mizusawa's laugh drowned out Mimimi's question. "…Uhhh?" I wasn't sure what he was thinking. "No, you're right, that could work. If that idiot tells him he'll have no choice but to accept the truth." Mizusawa's gleeful cackling was reassuring. "So…" "I think it's worth a try! But there's no way he can act the part, so we have to trick him into doing it somehow." "Trick Takei, too? What are you guys talking about?" Mimimi looked at the two of us blankly. Mizusawa seemed happy to explain. "Basically, we figure out a way to make
Takei realize that Shimano-senpai has been going after other guys and that she's dangerous. He'll think to himself, Oh no! Shuji is being misled! I have to save him! And then he'll go tell Shuji, because he doesn't know to keep his nose out of it. But if Takei is the one who tells him, Shuji will probably accept it, and as long as he thinks no one else knows, he should feel comfortable telling Izumi he likes her right afterward." I was impressed by how perfectly Mizusawa had grasped my strategy. He may even have had a more refined understanding of it than I did. Anyway, the point was that if the idiotic Takei—who seemed to stand outside the teasing hierarchy entirely—was the one to tell him, Nakamura would be able to humbly swallow the truth. "Aha! I see!" Mimimi clapped, and Mizusawa grinned at me. "Did I get that right, Fumiya?" "…Uh, yeah." I felt embarrassed for a second, but I nodded. "You sure did get a good read on Takei even though you haven't known him very long." "I mean…hanging out with him all day today was more than enough…" I'd had a front-row seat to his idiocy as he went around in his own little world—taking pictures on his phone, splashing around in the river in regular clothes, showing Izumi a crab and making her fall, apologizing profusely afterward, doing speed push-ups in the bath, discovering the size of my penis… Seriously, what was with that guy? "So the issue is, how do we convey the information to Takei?" Mizusawa said, looking at me. "Do you have a plan for that?" "Well…" I thought it over. "It's a Twitter account, right…?" I explained my plan to them. When I finished, Mizusawa and Mimimi both gave their approval, and we filled Hinami in via LINE. I was worried she might not look at her phone in time, but count on Hinami to have that covered. She noticed our message right away and threw us an amused smile. She'd probably caught on immediately. All righty, then. With the help of Hinami, Mizusawa, and Mimimi, everything should work out. It was a mass gathering of top-tier characters, after all. * * *
The strategy swung into action. "Millionaire champions, unite!" "Uh…yeah, let's show them who's boss!" First, with Hinami's perfect performance and my monotone delivery of my lines, she and I formed a Ping-Pong team. Next, it was Mizusawa's turn. "Hey, Izumi, you're on the badminton team, right?" "Uh, yeah." "Awesome. I'm sure you'll rock this racket sport, too." "Oh, is that your point?!" With that, Izumi and Mizusawa formed our opposing team. That left Nakamura, Takei, and Mimimi on the sidelines. Once everyone was in place, we started up our game. "We were enemies in Millionaire…but yesterday's enemies are today's friends, as they say," Hinami said as she executed a save and smacked the ball onto Mizusawa and Izumi's side of the net. "Nice, Aoi! This is gonna be intense…," Mizusawa said, wielding his paddle. "How about this?!" He returned the ball powerfully. "Oh shit… Got it!" I lobbed the ball back softly with a less-thaninspiring call. "Yesss!" Izumi was surprisingly athletic given how clumsy she was in ordinary life. She skillfully sent the ball flying back to us. Meanwhile… "Hey! Can you take a picture of us here at the hot spring?" Mimimi suggested, and unsurprisingly, Takei responded with enthusiasm. "Okay, here I go! Hot spring!" he said randomly, snapping a selfie of the three of them. As soon as he was done, Mimimi excused herself. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom!" "Gotcha." "Yup." Nakamura and Takei started to listlessly scroll through their phones. Back at the Ping-Pong table… "Take that!" Izumi said. "Oof," I replied. Pathetic. The fierce battle continued, even as three of us were watching Takei out of the corners of our eyes. "…Huh?"
I could hear him muttering something. Had he fallen into our trap? He was silent for a moment, examining his phone with great concentration as he swiped the screen. "Anyway…" "Shit!" Takei let out a little yelp at the same time Nakamura started to talk. We pretended to be so absorbed in our game that we didn't notice—except for Izumi, who was genuinely absorbed. "What?" "Shuji, look! Look at this!" Takei handed his phone to Nakamura, and a minute later, Nakamura reacted with shock, too. "…What the fuck?" I couldn't see what he was looking at, but I was pretty sure it was Shimano-senpai's Twitter account. Our attention divided between the PingPong ball and the sidelines, we worked up an exciting-as-possible volley. Izumi was genuinely excited. "She did this…?" Now, I bet Nakamura was looking at Shimano-senpai's collection of sketchy close-ups and replies to various guys saying, "Yeah, let's hang out!" and stuff like that. His tone suggested a mixture of shock and liberation. "…God, she makes me sick," he hissed. "Sh-Shuji, I think you should forget about that girl…" "…Yeah." He gave a humorless laugh. "But where'd you find this shit, man?" "Uh… It popped up on my timeline… I think someone retweeted it." "Who?" Takei fiddled with his phone for a minute. "Huh? Where'd it go?" "What the hell?" Nakamura sounded a little tired of Takei's antics but not aggressive. He was smiling. Of course, Takei couldn't find the retweet. Because it didn't exist anymore. The plan was extremely simple. First, we lured Takei into opening his Twitter account. Normies typically look at their phones whenever they have a free minute, but it's hard to predict what exactly they'll look at—could be LINE, could be Facebook, could be Instagram. But Takei almost always looked at Twitter.
So we had Mimimi go to the bathroom after a short conversation, therefore creating an opportunity for the two guys to look at their phones. But that alone wasn't a guarantee, so we added another twist. We had Takei take a picture right before she went to the bathroom. Takei had a high likelihood of opening up Twitter at any opportunity, but if he took a picture, his guaranteed next action was to post it there. We took advantage of that habit to ensure he would do what we wanted. Next, Mimimi retweeted one of Shimano-senpai's infamous tweets with a photo attachment. Then, since Takei follows Mimimi and would be looking at Twitter at that moment, the photo would pop up on his timeline. And since Mimimi had a private account, Shimano-senpai wouldn't get a notification on the retweet. The key point here was for Mimimi to change the display name on her account. The way Twitter works is that when you retweet something, the original tweet shows up on people's timelines with a small note above saying who retweeted it. So normally, if Mimimi had retweeted Shimano-senpai's tweet, it would be displayed on Takei's timeline with a small note above saying "Mimimi Nanami retweeted," but no other information like icons or IDs. Meaning as long as you change the display name, you can disguise who did the retweeting. Of course, if someone opens the tweet and clicks on the link that says "so-and-so retweeted," they'll go to your user page, so it's not possible to fully disguise your identity. But honestly, how often do people look into who retweeted something? Or to be more specific, how often would Takei ? So we had Mimimi temporarily change her display name to the innocuous pseudonym Yu before retweeting Shimano-senpai's tweet. Then we secretly monitored Takei, and as soon as we detected signs he had seen it, we had Mimimi delete the retweet. All trace that Mimimi was involved in this would be gone. When she changed her username back, the miniature perfect crime was complete. At Nakamura's instruction, Takei searched for the source of the retweet for a while, but eventually he pointed out there was something more important to think about. "Either way, you should still forget about her, right?" "…Yeah, guess so." Nakamura gave a vaguely forlorn nod. "Hey, guys!" Mimimi returned just at that moment.
"Hey, Mimimi! You'll never guess what…" "Takei." Nakamura shot a harsh word and glance at Takei before he could reveal all to Mimimi. "Uh, oh…um. Nothing!" "Ooh, what's the secret?!" "Shut up. It's a guy thing." "A guy thing?! Then it's hopeless…'cause I'm a girl…" Mimimi pretended to cry dramatically. With that, Nakamura had sealed Takei's lips. Wonderful. All the pieces should now be in place. We'd communicated Shimano-senpai's true colors to Nakamura without injuring his pride, and he'd prevented Takei from sharing the information with anyone else. In other words, no one would be able to tease Nakamura over this. By the way, nice performance, Mimimi. A bit too real, actually. Girls are scary. We had just removed the last small obstacle standing between Nakamura and Izumi. Meanwhile… "Ooh, nice one!" Mizusawa smashed the ball into our court. "Ack!" Unable to respond in time, I let it fly off the table. "Yes!" "Nice one!" Mizusawa and Izumi high-fived, and then Mizusawa gave me a meaningful look. "…Looks like Fumiya is the winner of this game." "Huh? …Oh right." It took me a second to realize he'd just complimented me on the success of my strategy. Hinami smiled and nodded, too. Izumi was the only one who looked confused. * * * Having finished both the Ping-Pong game and our big gambit without incident, we left the hot spring and wandered naturally toward the little woods nearby.
Needless to say, we were going to walk through the forest at night for our test of courage. In a sense, this would be the final step of the Nakamura-Izumi strategy. Even though the air was warm and damp, Izumi looked chilled. Her eyes were filled with pure fear, and she was shivering as she asked, "We're really doing this?" "Of course we are! This is the main event!" Ironically, even though we hadn't told Takei about the plan since he was so useless, his comment was close to the truth. This definitely was the main event. "S-seriously…?" Mizusawa patted Izumi on the back as her steps became smaller and smaller. "Don't worry, this is a normal road in the daytime. It's just dark and creepy right now. It only feels like a ghost could pop out when you least expect it." "That's what's so scary!!" Izumi cried desperately. Mizusawa's clever teasing was extremely effective. "Oh, here's where we start." Ignoring Izumi's reaction, Mizusawa was looking down a dark, narrow path leading back to camp. There were two ways to get there—the one we'd taken on the way to the hot spring, which was a normal road that cars used, and this one, which was a paved but dimly lit path through the woods. The plan was to walk back to camp on this path in groups of two or three. From what I could see, the path that veered off the main road was fairly dark, and honestly speaking, even I would have been afraid to walk down it alone. Not that I'm a scaredy-cat or anything. "Listen…it's really dark down there." Izumi's voice was weak, and her eyes were pooling with tears. I saw her reach toward Nakamura and grab onto his sweatshirt. Mizusawa's sharp eyes caught the movement, and he pointed to her hand. "Ooh, look at the lovebirds! Go on, you two; you first!" "Yeah, I think she wants to go with you," Hinami said, piling on. "Hey, no, wait! That's not what I…!" Izumi pulled her hand back from Nakamura's arm in a hurry. "Too late. These guys have made up their minds. Let's go," Nakamura said. Sounding resigned to the fact that we'd never back down, he led Izumi toward the path.
"Hey, w-wait for me, Shuji!" "Geez, keep up." "Hey!!" Her voice echoed away as she vanished into the darkness. "Nice one, Takahiro!!" Mimimi gave him a thumbs-up, grinning from ear to ear. "Ha-ha-ha, what can I say? But it looks like…" He nodded several times. "Our strategizing ends here, huh?" He was right. By waiting twenty minutes or so to send the next pair down the path, we'd give them some time alone at the campground, at which point it was up to Nakamura to finally make a move. That was the final stage of our plan. "If we've set them up this well and Nakamu still doesn't do anything— C'mon, man up!" Mimimi snickered. "Yuzu might be the one to make a move!" "I hope you don't let that happen, Shuji! Think of your honor!" Hinami and Mizusawa laughed along with her. "Huh? What are you guys talking about?" We all completely ignored Takei's question and started talking about who should go down the path next. "Okay, I'm off!" "Watch your step, Mimimi!" "Aah!" Mimimi and Mizusawa were the next to set off, twenty minutes or so after Izumi and Nakamura. We'd done rock-paper-scissors to decide on groups, and they ended up as the first pair. Hinami and Takei and I would leave after them. That was one unique trio. "Actually, we planned it all out…" "What?! Really?! Why didn't you tell me?" "Come on, Takei, you know you can't act." "Okay, I'll give you that, but…" Since everything was over, Hinami was telling Takei about the true goal of the trip. He seemed crushed to learn he was the only one who didn't know. Ten minutes or so had passed since Mizusawa and Mimimi had set off. "Okay, guys, should we head out? …S-sure is dark in here," Hinami said fearfully, and the three of us set off. * * * "Eek!"
Hinami freaked out as Takei stepped on a branch, snapping it in half with a loud crack. "A little on edge, Aoi?" Takei leaned in toward Hinami, cackling happily. "Sh-shut up, Takei! Scary stuff scares people sometimes, okay?!" she said sullenly, speeding up her pace. "I'm not scared at all. Impressive, huh?" Takei crowed. Hinami nodded. "It does make me feel safer to be with a guy who's not scared by stuff like this." Takei smiled excitedly at Hinami's playful comment. This guy really was a simple creature. "Seriously? I make you feel safer?!" "But…," Hinami said, looking at both of us. "Don't you think having three of us is part of it?" Takei shook his head vigorously. "No way! Not at all!" "So you could go by yourself?" "Piece of cake!" "Really?" "Really! Would you be impressed if I did?" "Totally. Only someone really cool and manly would do that." "Seriously?! Okay, then!" he said, rolling up his sleeves. "Just watch me!" "You're really gonna do it?!" "Of course!" Takei strode confidently ahead of us. "W-wow!" Hinami applauded softly. "That's me! Ah-ha-ha!" The two of us stood and watched him disappear down the path. Um, what's going on? Hinami just tricked Takei into going ahead of us, right? So there we were alone on the dark path. Now I was a little…nervous. "…What are you up to?" I asked quietly, my heart beating just a little faster than usual. Hinami gave me a satisfied nod. "I figured it would be an efficient use of time to have a meeting right now. How's your assignment going?" She was back to her usual self. "Oh…so that's what this is about." She'd chased Takei off because he was in the way. I sighed at her cold, hard logic—my fault for letting my heart get excited.
"Hmm?" Hinami seemed to be enjoying my reaction. "What do you mean? What else could it be about?" She brought her face right up to mine so her hair brushed my neck. Intentionally, I'm sure. Ergh, okay… "N-nothing." "Is that so?" I felt my face growing hot. As I leaned back to avoid her attack, she gave a satisfied snort. "What the hell?" I asked. "We're going to do some special training right now." She wasn't even trying to hide her sadism now. I had a very bad feeling about this. "Wh-what do you mean, 'special training'?" "You know what I said to Takei, about being cool and manly?" "Uh, yeah…" "For example…" Suddenly, she shrieked and grabbed onto my arm. "H-hey, what are you doing?!" She looked up at me with watery eyes as I went into a panic. "A-at times like this…you have to act manly and strong, right?" Her voice was weak and feeble, somehow inspiring a desire to protect her, even though I knew she was making fun of me. I got her point. "…You want me to practice walking in a manly and strong way with a frightened girl…" My heart was pounding from the warmth of Hinami's palm on my bicep. She looked up at me with her frightened eyes and nodded. "Yup, that's it… I'm counting on you, okay…?" She wrapped both of her arms around my right arm and pressed herself against me. "Uh, um…" She looked so thoroughly frightened and vulnerable that if it weren't for the smile that briefly twitched at the edges of her lips, she would have had me fooled. I knew it was an act, but I still felt my heart beating faster. I—I won't let you beat me, Hinami! * * *
Hinami walked along slowly, clinging to my arm, and pressed to me like glue. "Ooh, it's so dark…" "Y-yeah." I was matching my pace to hers, my attention completely distracted by the very definite softness of her body all along my arm. Her chest…probably wasn't touching my arm, but her armpit and side definitely were. There was only a thin T-shirt between me and her bare skin. "Eek!" With a cute shriek, she squeezed my arm tighter against her soft body. "C-come on…you're taking this too far." I tried to take an objective approach to keep from losing my cool completely. Hinami, however, couldn't have cared less. "Oh, Tomozaki-kun…," she said, bashfully looking into my eyes. "Don't let go…" "…Uh, yeah." The overwhelming power of the heroine was practically beating me into submission, and I found myself nodding. Don't worry. I won't let you go , I thought. No, bad! What am I thinking? She had me wrapped around her finger. She was just trying to confuse me…but her face and expression and gestures were so adorable, and her body was so soft and warm, it didn't matter if it was all an act… And we were all alone on this dark path… No. Snap out of it! I slapped my cheek lightly with my left hand to clear my head. I felt Hinami's finger tracing my ribs. "Eee!" I yelped, and instantly my head was in a fog again. "Tomozaki-kun…are you okay?" Hinami said in a concerned tone. Hey, that was your fault! Anyway, I was supposed to be practicing my strong-and-manly act. She must be instructing me to focus on that. "…Uh, yeah. I'm fine." I made up my mind to just complete the special training and kept walking forward. After all, she was my teacher in life. Even if she did have sadistic motivations, I had to obey her. As I walked along, my mind blurred by the totally abnormal and slightly risqué situation, a small insect flew in front of me.
"Oh!" "Wh-what?!" Overreacting to my small exclamation, Hinami let go of my arm and clung to me from behind. My brain turned to mush as I felt her soft body pressed against my back and her delicate, trembling arms around me. I was done for. My brain was in panic mode. "I-it's nothing. J-just a bug," I managed to say, albeit incredibly awkwardly. "R-really…?" She peeled herself off my back and reattached to my arm. I was disappointed that she hadn't stayed on my back a little longer, but I pushed down the regret and examined her expression. A satisfied smile was hovering around her mouth. You're letting your true colors show, Hinami! But…shit. It was humiliating to be so completely at her mercy. I wondered if I could get her back somehow. I looked around, feeling even more humiliated that I liked the weight of her head resting on my shoulder, and noticed a cicada on the ground in front of her. There we go! It was a risky bet, but if the thing was still alive…I could stomp loudly when we got close to it and sic the cicada on her. Since I knew what to expect, I should be able to control my own reaction. I didn't want her guessing my plan, so I looked away from the insect and held my ground as she started making extremely girly comments, such as "Tomozaki-kun, your arm feels so strong and manly!" A few seconds later, we reached the cicada. Boo! I stomped loudly, and sure enough, it went flying into the air with a loud clicking sound. "Eek, what's that?!" "Whoa!" Hinami's squeal this time wasn't quite so fake. Ha-ha. Aside from the fact that I was startled, too, my little scheme was a big success. Serves you right, Hinami! I looked at her with a self-satisfied smile. She glared at me for a second. What? Then she removed her arms from me and covered her mouth with one hand.
"Th-that was so scary…!" she whimpered theatrically, sinking to the ground. "H-hey, Hinami…" She looked up at me tearfully and shook her head weakly. "I—I can't stand up…" What a faker. Bet this was her revenge for me giving her a little scare. Fine, then. I'd caught her off guard with the cicada, so I'd put up with it. "A-are you okay?" "I—I just can't…" She looked up at me pleadingly. Uh, so she wants me to… "You want me to lift you up?" She gave a little nod. "…Uh-huh." She lifted her arms slightly, so there was a gap beneath her armpits. Okay, wait a second. There? In a situation like this, wouldn't you normally pull someone up by their hands? But her gesture suggested she wanted me to wrap both arms around her and lift her up that way. Seriously? "H-hurry…" She looked on the verge of tears. I knew it was an act, but she still managed to make me feel like I had to rescue her before she started crying. What the hell. "Uh, okay…" I did as she wanted, wrapping my arms around her under her armpits. She put both her arms around my neck. "…Huh?" I froze. She gazed into my eyes. "Wh-what?" She kept staring at me silently, smiling and playing dumb. Her lips parted. Why was she acting so seductive? But after my successful revenge with the cicada, a rebellious spirit had blossomed in my heart. I just stared right back at her. She licked her lips. Then she slowly pulled my face toward hers using the arm wrapped around my neck. Okay, wait just a second. I stared at her with my useless determination to rebel. Was I going to keep putting up with this treatment? But if I looked away, she'd probably make fun of me for it later. Through pure force of will, I managed to stay put. Very, very slowly, Hinami's face, her skin, her lips, moved straight toward me.
The distance between us shrank from fifteen centimeters to ten and then to just a few. The faint, warm breath from her mouth caressed my lips. Eventually, her nose was about to touch mine, and she tilted her head slightly out of the way. Hey, people do that when— "Aah!!" Unable to hold out any longer, I jerked my face away. The next moment, I returned to my senses and realized what had happened… I'd lost. I glanced at Hinami. She was standing there with her head still tilted and a victorious smile. "Sh-shit…," I muttered. She was way beyond me. But then I realized something else. Huh? Her lips…are where… "You have a long way to go, I see. Well, let's get out of here." She stood up and I followed with a mumbled "Okay." Her lips had ended up—exactly where mine had been a minute earlier. …If I hadn't dodged, what would have happened? …Had she been sure I would dodge? My heart was beating like crazy once again, and the two of us made our way back to the campground. * * * The other five members of our group were already gathered near the camp center. "Hey, slowpokes. I made it by myself, Aoi!" Takei called out. "It wasn't that scary after all," Hinami said casually. She waved both hands, a blank look on her face. How was I supposed to interpret that? "Oh, come on! It was super scary!" Izumi wasn't trying to put on a brave front, but now that a little time had passed, she seemed happy again. "You were shivering like an idiot!" Nakamura commented.
"You don't have to call me an idiot!" "Yeah, yeah, yeah." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Well, should we head back?" Ignoring Izumi's question, Nakamura started walking toward the cabins. "Wait for me!" Izumi hurried to catch up so she could walk next to him. I'm not sure, and I might have been imagining things, but they seemed closer than before. "Psst," Hinami whispered to Mizusawa. "What happened with Shuji and Yuzu? Did you hear anything?" Mizusawa smiled like he was enjoying a private joke, and I listened in on their conversation as I walked next to Hinami. "Apparently, he didn't tell her how he felt." "What?" Hinami's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "But…" Mizusawa smiled as he looked at Nakamura and Izumi. "They did make plans to hang out together." He looked at Hinami, raised his eyebrows comically, and laughed. "…That's all?" she asked. "Yup, that's all," he said with the same silly expression. Hinami sighed and gave a faintly tender smile. "Geez…I swear, those two…" Mizusawa nodded. "Yeah…things move super slowly with those idiots." His laughter was chagrined but happy, like he was watching with fatherly joy as an adorable little child took its first small step. "I wish they'd take a page from your book—you got yourself an older girl in no time at all," Hinami joked. Mizusawa shrugged. "Seriously. They're both good-looking and smart enough to talk if they wanted to. I just wish they'd be a little less awkward… you know?" Despite his funny tone, Mizusawa's eyes seemed lonely and distant, even contemplative. He got that way sometimes, but I had no idea why. "I hope things go well with you and that girl!" Hinami said. "Ha-ha-ha, yeah. I hope it works out with her, too." For some reason, he sounded like he was talking about someone else. * * * Page 136 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
"So, nine?" Nakamura asked "Yeah," Mizusawa said. Takei had turned out the lights, and we were all setting our phone alarms and going to sleep…or not, as it turned out. "Man, Izumi's wet T-shirt sure was sexy!" Takei's excited comment set off a full review of the day's swimsuits. "All she's got going for her is the curves," Nakamura said haughtily. "You think so? I prefer someone like Mimimi," Mizusawa said. "No way. Izumi's tits are the best," Takei said, continuing to push for Izumi. "Hey, Farm Boy, you pretending to sleep?" Nakamura jeered. Who's Farm Boy? Guess I have to go along with it. "I'm not asleep." "So what's your opinion?" "I—I…" Should I avoid saying the same things they'd already said? "Hinami's posture…is pretty hot." Nakamura burst out laughing. "I've never heard anyone having a thing for a girl's posture , dude!" "Fumiya is a weird one." "Farm Boy cracks me up!" "I don't have a thing for posture…and stop calling me Farm Boy…" As the raging wave of normie aggression washed toward me, my words tapered off weakly. "Why? It suits you," Nakamura said meanly. "True…," Mizusawa said, pausing for a beat. "They do say horses have big dicks." "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Takei cracked up. This was hazing…! Th-this was how guys joked around…? But in this ring…I could fight…!! "Well…," I began quietly. "What?" Nakamura snapped. "No harm in being big. Better than being small like Nakamura." Maybe because it was the second time I'd said something like that, Nakamura grinned combatively and took on a confident tone. "Go ahead and say that, but I bet you've never used yours." It was a flawless counter, and I couldn't reply. Page 137 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
"Uh…" Mizusawa burst out laughing. But even if Nakamura hit right back, that was number three! I'd completed my assignment! Yesss! We joked around like that for another half hour or so, and then everyone started to get drowsy and grew steadily quieter. Finally calm, the three normies began looking at their phones. The light from the screens illuminated their faces faintly in the dark room. I took out my phone, too, and got to work gathering information related to Atafami . Not much later, a private LINE message arrived from Hinami. [You awake? ] Wondering what this was about, I replied. [Yeah, what's up? ] [If you're going to be up for a while, I figured we could review your performance on the trip. You want to do it now? ] Review my performance, huh? I guess it made sense. We'd still be here tomorrow, but today was the main event. [Sure, but what's the rush? ] [We could meet up afterward, too, but I thought this would be more efficient. ] Logical as usual. [Okay, where? ] [Come to the front of the girls' cabin. We'll decide from there. ] [Gotcha. ] I told the guys I was going to the bathroom and headed for the girls' cabin. * * * "There you are." Hinami was a slim figure in the dark, her hair fluttering like silk in the night breeze. She sounded as cool as ever. "Hey." "How about we go to the camp center?" she said. "…Huh? Oh, sure, we can sit down there, too." Page 138 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
We walked toward the center. When we got there, she asked me to give her a minute and disappeared into the girls' bathroom. She must have really had to go. We should've just met here. Oh well. After a couple minutes, she returned. We sat on chairs in the lounge and started our meeting. "I'll start with my overall assessment," she said. "Please do." "First, regarding your assignment to mess with or contradict Nakamura…" I grinned. "I did it three times! The first time…" I gave her a rundown of the "stringing along" incident, the "small dick" incident, and the "no harm in being big" incident. Huh? Two out of three were dick jokes? Oh well, we're guys. What did she expect? "God, you're all dumb…" Hinami face-palmed. "But sounds like you completed the assignment. Pass." "Yes!" I said, pumping my fist. "I hope you understand now the important role teasing plays in multiple arenas: becoming a normie, making friends, and establishing equal relationships." I nodded. "Relationships and hierarchies sure are scary…" "Well, you have to kinda establish positions to make group interactions smoo—" Hinami broke off midsentence. "What's wrong?" "Wait, someone's coming." The ice in her voice made me think maybe I should hide. I stood up and slipped into the little kitchen nearby. I heard Hinami saying I didn't have to hide, and then the automatic doors slid open. I peered out through the window in the kitchen door. Mizusawa was walking into the lounge. "Takahiro? Did you come to use the bathroom, too?" "…I thought you and Tomozaki were in here together… I must have been wrong." "…Huh?" Hinami played dumb, but I could tell she was on edge. Mizusawa went into the guys' bathroom and came right back out again. That was weird. What should we do? "Huh. We must have just missed each other." "Did you not have to use the bathroom?" Page 139 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com
"No, it's just… Anyway, since we're both here, why don't we talk a little?" He sat down next to Hinami. Uh-oh, was he staying for a while? He sounded relaxed and loose, but the mood was awkward and tense. First of all, I was curious why he suddenly wanted to talk to her. I also didn't understand why he'd said he thought Hinami and I were in here together, which was an oddly accurate guess. I kept stealing glances at them, but all I could do was sit there and sweat in terror. "I wish those two would have made a move already." Hinami introduced the topic searchingly, as if she were avoiding a definite conclusion. "Yeah. I mean, just promising to hang out after we set them up so perfectly? They're beyond awkward." Mizusawa chuckled good-naturedly, but he had less energy than usual. "Exactly! Just how naive can you get?" "Right? Those two are awkward, naive idiots…no joke." "Yeah." Hinami sounded like her usual self. But Mizusawa was staring out through the automatic doors with that distant, lonely look in his eyes. As usual, I didn't know what was behind it. Finally, he went on talking. "But at the same time…I'm impressed." "…Huh?" Hinami seemed mystified by Mizusawa's quietly mumbled words. Still staring out the doors, Mizusawa laced his hands over his head and stretched. He was keeping it light. Maybe he was trying to hide his embarrassment or avoid getting too serious. "It's like… Okay, Yuzu and Shuji—and Fumiya, too, honestly—they do what they want. They listen to their own emotions. When they're happy, they're happy, and when they're sad, they're sad… They're always so sincere." I jumped a little to hear him mention my name. But I remembered that he'd mentioned my "sincerity" and "effort" a couple of times before. And every time he mentioned those things, he had that same smile—that lonely, mystifying smile. In my head, I heard him mumbling introspectively, Everything is easy for me. I don't even have to try . "…Yeah," Hinami murmured. Mizusawa let his hands flop back down by his sides before continuing in that same light tone.
"Seriously, all Yuzu and Shuji have to do is make eye contact and they start blushing. Even though they like each other, they're so self-conscious together that nothing ever happens…and Fumiya, he's just so earnest about everything. Even if he screws up, he acts like he's having a blast…" "…Shuji and Yuzu really are hopeless…" Hinami giggled and nodded. "But you think Tomozaki-kun is the same?" "Yeah, Fumiya might be a little different…" Mizusawa started laughing, too. "Yuzu and Shuji are idiots through and through," he said, repeating what he'd said to me before. "When I watch their little romance, and…when I'm with Fumiya, it makes me think about something." "What's that?" Hinami asked sympathetically. "I'd like to try being a little more of an idiot myself." "…You would?" Mizusawa nodded. "If I put it like Fumiya, every day is like a game, but I'm not really playing . I'm manipulating the controller, but it's like…I'm not the one moving through the world. Even if I mess up, it's the character I'm controlling who takes the hit, not me. And when things go well, I'm not the one who feels happy… I'm not the one having fun." The joking tone Mizusawa had been using to hide his self-consciousness gradually faded into something more serious. "…You mean it's like you're always watching yourself from a distance?" Hinami carefully broke down Mizusawa's explanation into something simple. "Yeah, basically. So okay, the thing with the girl at the other school. I'm going through the motions because I know she's got everything you'd want in a girl, and dating her would probably be fun. I know what I have to do for it to work, but it has nothing to do with emotions or feeling shy or liking someone or disliking them or with what I really want." Hinami nodded, chewing on her lip. Mizusawa smiled with that same lonely look in his eyes. "All I'm doing is putting on a good performance." Mizusawa's small, earnest words echoed across the large, empty room. "Hmm," Hinami said, looking him in the eye as she listened. The only sounds in the quiet room were their two voices and the soft hum of the vending machine glowing in the corner. Should I be overhearing all this?
The guy with everything, the top-tier character who could do anything, the one who was so perfect I used him as a model for my own attempts to become a normie—he was showing his vulnerable side, his true feelings. I think he was revealing his sense of inferiority and regret for not pouring his true self into anything. Was it okay for me to be eavesdropping on that conversation? I tensed my legs. Mizusawa sighed softly. "…Anyway, I just don't know," he said. "Know what?" Mizusawa looked straight at Hinami. She didn't look away. They were silent for a second, their eyes locked and utterly serious. Finally, Mizusawa spoke. It was like he was tearing through the tension with his fingernails. "Isn't it the same for you?" I gasped. My whole body was tense now. He'd just leveled a quiet accusation at her. He'd looked into the face of the perfect heroine—that face that fooled everyone—and realized that it was a mask born from a perfectly calculated performance. I'm not sure if it was fake or real, but Hinami glanced around the room like she was at a loss for what to say. "You're asking if I'm watching myself from a distance, too?" "Yeah." Mizusawa nodded. I knew the real Hinami, and he'd hit the bull's-eye with his guess. To play the part of the perfect heroine, to reign from the top in our school hierarchy, in athletics, and in academics, she wore a mask made of blood, sweat, and tears. There was no question that mask was there with her perfect, brilliant smile. The mood grew tense and still once again. Mizusawa didn't try to escape the awkwardness with one of his embarrassed smiles. He simply gazed deeply into Hinami's eyes, utterly sincere. She grinned back at him.
"You could be right." And she confirmed his guess. The look she gave him was equally earnest, and he didn't look away. I couldn't turn away, either. "Yeah…that's what I thought." Mizusawa smiled and looked down. Hinami nodded, still watching him, and spoke again. "I…" I was so focused on her voice, it was like my mind wasn't my own anymore. "…I'm gonna be totally honest here. People expect so much from me, right? They're like, 'Aoi Hinami is good at everything!'" But the words that came out of her mouth— "I unconsciously suppress my real self… Honestly speaking, it's more like I'm playing the part everyone wants me to play, instead of doing what I really want. I feel like I have to live up to their expectations, so I work really hard. And of course, the more I achieve, the less I want to disappoint people! I'm just too proud, I guess. Oh, but don't tell anyone!" —They weren't the words of the unmasked Aoi Hinami I knew. "So I think I might understand how you feel. When you never do what you want and never listen to your emotions… When you just do what you think you're supposed to do, it always gets boring. That…happens to me, too." —They weren't her usual rational, coldly logical, painfully truthful words. "But I don't think there's anything you can do about it. People like Shuji and Yuzu are unusual. They've got so much going for them, right? And they're idiots! And Tomozaki-kun is a weird one, too. Ah-ha-ha. That stuff is impossible for normal people! I think all normal people…are acting a little bit. I think…you need to find at least one person you can show your real self to, as a kind of compromise, right? That's just how I see it, of course!" —It was a flimsy, casual confession from the mask of the perfect heroine. I was dumbfounded. I mean, this was Aoi Hinami.
The truth was, the person she showed to everyone on a daily basis was a mask, a created character she was controlling through a never-ending video game. Without waiting for her permission, Mizusawa had suddenly crashed straight into that truth. But she couldn't have cared less for his attempt at honesty. She was like the final boss kicking aside an NPC; without even breaking a sweat, she had magically transformed truth into fiction and performed a perfect role-play of the school heroine earnestly responding to a classmate who had opened up to her. I couldn't hear a single trace of NO NAME in the words she had just spoken. "…Ha-ha-ha." There was no humor in Mizusawa's laugh. "Wh-what?" Hinami said, making her voice sound confused. "You're truly incredible, Aoi." "Huh? I didn't say anything that—" "You can stop now." Mizusawa's serious tone shut Hinami up. But that, too, seemed like part of her performance. As he stood before that overpowering final boss, Mizusawa smiled belligerently, like he was enjoying the fight. "Strange, isn't it? Usually, I'm the one who's playing the perfect guy for whatever girl I'm talking to. I'm the one drawing out her real feelings, listening kindly, and wrapping her around my little finger the whole time." To me, Mizusawa looked excited by the current situation.
…I just showed you the real me, but you're still acting. Isn't it supposed to work the other way around? This has never happened to me before!" He cackled with genuine amusement. "H-huh? What are you talking about…?" Hinami made a perplexed perfect heroine face. "You're the only one I can't beat." He was admitting defeat, but he sounded oddly satisfied. "Is that a compliment?" Hinami's joke was delivered with a perfectly light, teasing tone. "Listen. I've been open with you, so I might as well tell you one more thing." "Huh? Wh-what?" Mizusawa grinned, his eyes glittering. "I think I like you. I'd like to talk to the real you sometime." Hinami made a fairly surprised expression at that. Then she mumbled, "Thanks." "But even if I asked you out, you'd say no, wouldn't you?" "…I'm sorry," Hinami murmured, looking down. Mizusawa laughed cheerfully. "Ha-ha-ha. I mean, if you won't open up even after all that, there's no way we can date." "I'm sorry." Her second apology seemed like an attempt to evade the real meaning of his words. Mizusawa nodded, still smiling. "Yeah, it does sting a little. Opening up and getting shot down." "…Yeah." Mizusawa's eyes looked sad and anxious, but at the same time, a satisfied expression played around his mouth. "But…," he said, stretching both hands toward the ceiling and smiling as if the storm had passed. "Sure does feel good to get it off my chest!" With a boyish, friendly expression, he chuckled. I'd never seen him laugh at himself that way. "Man, it's been a long time since I asked myself what I wanted and really gave it a shot." He scratched his neck. "Ah-ha-ha. So you like me that much, huh?" Hinami continued her perfect performance, this time playing the girl who said the right thing to smooth over the awkwardness after she'd turned down a guy. "I'm gonna tell you something, though. Now that I've bared my soul, I don't intend to give up." He sounded deadly serious. "Is that so? I'm a formidable opponent, you know." Hinami added a silly smile to her joking tone, but Mizusawa didn't crack the slightest smile. He just looked at her once more. "Hey, Aoi." "…Yeah?" He was advancing on the final-boss-level monster Aoi Hinami head-on. "Tell me something." "…What?" He was talking straight to the Aoi Hinami behind the mask. "How long are you gonna be on that side?" His eyes were focused very intently and very earnestly on her. * * * Once again, the only sound in the quiet room was the soft hum of the glowing vending machine. Everything felt weird. I kept my breath quiet as I thought things over, then finally arrived at a conclusion. In the shadow of the kitchen door, I got ready to stand—and burst out of hiding. "—I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!" I flew out of the little kitchen. "…Fumiya?" Mizusawa looked at me in surprise. Out of his view, Hinami slapped her forehead in exasperation. "I—I thought you'd get suspicious if you saw me here with Hinami, so I hid, but I didn't think it would end up like this… I'm so sorry!" I was working my brain to explain myself as fully as possible. Hinami followed suit. "What happened was, we bumped into each other coming out of the bathroom. We'd been talking for a little while when you showed up, and Tomozaki-kun went and hid for some reason, and then he didn't come back out." Mizusawa sighed lifelessly. "Damn, you really overheard some weird Page 147 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com stuff." "I-I'm so sorry…" I really did regret what had happened. "But I don't think you meant any harm… I mean, who would jump out and admit everything now of all times?" He laughed cheerfully. "W-well…ha-ha-ha." I followed his lead and laughed, too. "Seriously, man, only an idiot is that honest." He sounded a little fed up. "I-it's just… I thought…it wasn't a good idea to keep hiding…" Mizusawa smiled as I stumbled through an explanation and then mumbled, "Figures." "Huh?" Suddenly, Hinami clapped once. "Okay, let's pretend none of this ever happened and get back to our cabins!" "…Yeah. Come on, Fumiya." "Oh right." Still flustered, I followed along. We walked Hinami back to her cabin and then headed to our own. "…I don't intend to pretend none of that ever happened," Mizusawa murmured after her as she headed into the girls' cabin. I'm not sure if Hinami heard him or not. The next day as we headed back on the bus, Nakamura and Izumi were chatting as compatibly as ever, and Hinami and Mizusawa were making conversation with everyone as cheerfully as ever. I felt like laughing at how little had changed. But to me, even if Nakamura and Izumi were more or less the same after their test of courage, the lack of change in Hinami was something different altogether.