I logged out late that night after a grueling day of testing with Ren. Not a moment later, however, Nozomi sent me a message asking me to log in again. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have been able to, but the game was open twenty-four seven during summer vacation.
It was still a weird time to be up, though, so nobody else was in our cottage; this rendezvous was a secret talk between the two of us.
“And then you went to the Item Museum? Nothing particular happened in regards to your strategy or your romantic relationship?”
“Umm... I guess not? Ahahaha.”
Ren and I had looked around the Item Museum for a while in hopes of finding something that would help us craft a strategy for the Hadean Rose, the big wall that was keeping everyone from finishing Aswarth’s Undersea Ruins, but nothing had particularly jumped out at us.
More specifically, Ren had found a few items that he wanted to try, but there was always an issue—the required levels for the items were way higher than ours, they were only usable by classes other than symbologist, and so on. We didn’t have time to powergrind at the moment, so we’d been forced to forget about the high-level options.
In the end, our investigation had been fruitless.
“Argh! I did so much work to make sure you were all alone too! How could you possibly make zero progress at all? You could have told him how you felt, or asked him how he felt about you, or anything!”
“Well, um, it’s not like there was no progress. Ren was considerate about all the stuff with Emily; he said he didn’t want to make me feel bad about it. Turns out he actually thinks about me a lot more than I realized. That was enough to satisfy me, I think. Should I really ask for any more than that?”
“Goodness, you’re difficult. That may be enough for you for now, yes. But do you think you’ll be able to keep yourself together if someone like Emily comes along again? What if you fall into the darkness again?”
“Uh, ‘the darkness’...? I don’t think I was that bad.”
“You were. Just the other day, you looked like you had seen the end of the world. Though when you returned and found that Emily was married, you acted as though nothing had ever happened.”
All I could do was laugh awkwardly in response.
I had been attending a bunch of dumb parties and ceremonies in real life due to some family stuff at the start of summer vacation. All that time, Nozomi was with me.
The Aoyagi and Akabane families were antagonistic toward each other; you could probably call us neck-and-neck rivals. When one family showed up somewhere, the other was sure to do the same.
Nozomi and I had been mutually hostile when we first came to this school. We had always hated each other, but after we cleared things up, that was no more. It felt more like I had a friend with me now. Her presence was reassuring. Even going to those high-society parties had become a teensy bit more bearable.
Recently, however, I’d started to feel like I was making more trouble than I had any right to.
“Akira, I enjoy seeing you and Takashiro get along. That has been true ever since I hid my identity when we played Eternal Fantasy. Your relationship has been an important part of my fun playing these games.”
Before we enrolled in this school and started playing Unlimited World, Ren and I had often played a game called Eternal Fantasy together. I didn’t learn this until after we started UW, but Nozomi was a mutual friend of ours in EF. Her player name was Scarlet. It had come as a huge shock, but I figured that was why we’d become such good friends in real life too.
“The same is true here in Unlimited World. Likewise, I hope your relationship continues for years to come. However, I know that small things can lead to friendships collapsing. As such, you must put your relationship with Takashiro into certain terms so that it cannot be so easily swayed. In short, you must start going out.”
“B-But what about my family? They’re more strict than yours, so it’s not gonna be easy. It won’t just be ‘going out’ to them; they’re gonna assume we plan to get married.”
“There’s no use worrying about what you have no control over. At the heart of it, your feelings are directly linked to love, and you won’t feel better until Takashiro is yours. Without that peace of mind, you can’t enjoy the game. I believe the majority of your enjoyment is dependent on Takashiro himself.”
“Urk... You’re not wrong. I thought I understood myself better than that.”
I slouched in disappointment. I guess sometimes you don’t know until the going gets tough.
Nozomi clapped a hand on my shoulder and said, “Now, you have no need to worry. Anyone who sees you and Takashiro would assume you’re in a relationship. All that remains is for you to mutually make it formal. Simple, is it not?”
“You can call it simple, but it’s really not! I’m totally fine with going out, but what if Ren isn’t? And I still have to deal with my family!”
“Do not forget that Emily appeared and brought you to your knees while you were busy hesitating.”
“I knooow, but—”
“Next time someone like her appears, you can’t count on her being married already. Then it’ll be too late to regret your inaction. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I do. But still, like I said, there are a bunch of other problems.”
“Ugh, you’re far too indecisive. You’re so unlike yourself when it comes to this.”
“Wh-What am I supposed to do? Just thinking about the what-ifs scares me. Maybe Ren can’t stand annoying environments like my family. If only he would ask me out himself, I’d be happy to say yes.”
“Goodness! You’re the one who wants to go steady, yet you plan to make him do the work? That’s just irresponsible! What difference does it make if you don’t ask?”
“C’mon. Don’t you think that the guy is kinda supposed to initiate when it comes to this stuff?”
“Times are changing; we are meant to be equals to men. Neither side should feel pressured to initiate.”
“B-But...”
“How many ‘buts’ do you have? As far as I can see, you need to buck up, tell Takashiro how you feel, and start going out. Why can’t you just do that?”
“I’m telling you, it’s not that simple! You can say that from where you stand, but just wait until you like someone. I bet it won’t be that easy for you.”
“What you mean to say is that because I have no such experience, I am not in a position to judge. Those who haven’t experienced this firsthand have no place to speak. Is that correct?”
“Erm, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“If that’s the case, then you needn’t worry.”
Nozomi sounded awfully confident.
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“You’re saying that I wouldn’t know and have no place to speak, right? Well, I’ll have you know that I do have a special someone.”
I couldn’t believe it. “HUH?! Why didn’t I hear about this?!”
“It’s the first time I’ve said it.”
“No way. I didn’t think you, of all people...”
“That’s quite the rude assumption to make.”
“B-But Nozomi, I didn’t think you’d be that smooth! Besides, it didn’t seem like you were interested in boys at all.”
I thought I was the mature one in this situation! When did she get ahead of me?! And wait, how shocked would Kataoka be if he heard about this?
Actually, I dunno. Kataoka is pretty weird, so maybe he wouldn’t care that much. Y’know, Ren did tell me he said something about it “not mattering” if his Hime-chan was actually a guy in real life and that he would still support them with all his heart, or something like that.
“As I watched you and Takashiro, I realized that perhaps I would benefit from having a beau of my own. And indeed, I did. Every day brings new and worthwhile challenges. It’s as if life is more enjoyable than before.”
She flashed an oddly mature smile. It was like she was saying she’d seen things that I hadn’t!
Come to think of it, it does feel like Nozomi has been a lot gentler toward others lately. Maybe that’s because she found herself a significant other?
“I-I see. But won’t Kataoka be sad about it?”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem. Not at all.”
“Really? Okay, if you say so.”
“So? Are you ready to hear me out seriously this time?”
“Yeah. Sorry for being weird.”
“I don’t mind. Now, how about we work on telling Takashiro how you feel? It may take some courage, but I think you’re sure to regret not putting in the effort. If someone else were to take him away from you, you might never recover from the shock. And if that’s the case, the only option is to take him for yourself once and for all.”