“Whoa. It’s massive.”
Hikari led us to a two-story house located about ten minutes from Takasaki Station on foot. The place was huge and had a spacious yard to boot. It looked like it was twice the size of my home.
Gunma may be a relatively cheap prefecture, but it would still be pretty expensive to own property near Takasaki Station. And yet they have one house in a space that could fit two? They must be rolling in the dough!
“You think so?” Hikari tilted her head.
“Don’t tell me—is your house also around this size?”
“Hmm... I think ours is bigger.”
Holy moly, they’re rich! As expected of a company president’s daughter. Though, Sei-san is still only the vice-president for now.
“Natsuki-kun, your house isn’t particularly small either, you know.”
“Yeah, but we live in the middle of nowhere. You can’t compare it to prime real estate like this.”
“Huh, really?” Hikari wore a puzzled expression as she opened the gate without knocking and entered the front yard as though she’d done it a million times. There was an empty parking spot in one corner of the yard; perhaps Nanase’s parents were still at work.
Hikari rang the doorbell, and the door swung open.
“Welcome,” Nanase greeted us, now dressed in casual clothing. She looked great in the simple dress she wore. “Come in.”
“Thanks for having us!” Hikari said.
Nanase guided us to the second floor. There was not a single speck of dust in the hallway, and the walls were decorated with expensive-looking paintings.
“This is the music room. Over there is my room.”
“You have a room specifically for music in your house?” That’s crazy!
Nanase smiled wryly. “My parents are both in the music business, so our case is special.” She was about to show us into the music room when Hikari stopped her.
“Hey, Yuino-chan, since we’re here, why don’t you show Natsuki-kun your room?” Excitement was written all over her face.
“Huh? N-No. That would be embarrassing.” Nanase clearly was not on board.
I can understand why a girl would be reluctant to have a guy poking around her room. That’s why, right? It’s not because you hate me specifically, right? Right?!
“Whaaat? But you have sooo much cute merch! You should show him since he’s here!”
“Cute...merch?” I questioned.
“Yeah! Like idol posters!”
Oh yeah. Come to think of it, Nanase does love idols. So she keeps merch of them in her room? Now I’m a little curious. Honestly, I just really want to see my oshi’s room.
“Natsuki-kun, come this way!” Hikari tugged on my hand with a mischievous smile.
“W-Wait, Hikari! You can’t just—?!” Nanase became uncharacteristically flustered, but Hikari didn’t stop.
Me? I can’t defy my girlfriend when she’s pulling on me so hard! What else can I do?
Hikari opened a door at the corner of the second floor and marched inside. “See?! Isn’t it amazing?!”
The room she had taken me to was...certainly amazing, to say the least. There were posters and pictures of female idols stuck to the walls, acrylic stands were displayed on top of her desk and dresser, and her bookshelf was practically overflowing with photo books and CDs. She even had a kinda lewd body pillow.
That’s pretty explicit. So she buys that sort of stuff too... I’m also an otaku, so I can relate to some degree, but this is mind-blowing! Well, I’m the type of otaku that gets attached to the story first and foremost, so I don’t own that much merch. I do collect all the limited edition short stories for light novels that are exclusive to each distributor, though.
“H-Hey! You should’ve let me prepare if you wanted him to see this!”
“When you invite people over to your home, shouldn’t you prepare a bit beforehand?” Hikari said brazenly.
She is merciless!
“I hadn’t intended to bring him in here!” Nanase rebutted as she hastily hid her body pillow under her blanket.
Ah, so you didn’t want me to see that? I’ve seen all of it now, though. Nanase looks cute when she’s getting red in the face, and it’s surprising how many knickknacks she has scattered about. I surveyed her room, marveling over how unexpected everything was, when a pair of red underwear caught my eye. I decided to pretend I hadn’t seen that.
“Step outside for a moment, okay?” Nanase said threateningly, blushing like mad. I obediently left her room. I could hear the clatter and rustle of her tidying up her room, and after a few minutes, I heard her and Hikari whispering to each other.
“Whoa. Yuino-chan, you own underwear like this? That’s bold...”
“Stop touching everything... What’re you going to do if Haibara-kun overhears?!”
Um, I can hear you guys whispering. In fact, I can hear it very well.
“Huh? Yuino-chan, you own this kind of thing?”
“H-Hey! No, that’s not mine... Anyway, don’t touch it!”
H-Huh? What on earth does she own? I’m... I’m so curious! I fought off the urge to suddenly throw open the door, until it finally opened on its own.
Nanase’s breathing was ragged. She looked exhausted. “You can come in now... Actually, is there even any point in going this far to show you my room?” Although she questioned her own actions, she beckoned me in anyway.
Her disorderly room had been straightened out in mere minutes. Her wall was still covered in posters, though, so my impression of it didn’t change much. “Huh, Nanase, you really love Shiratani from Shinozaka41.”
Shinozaka41 was a female idol group that Nanase adored.
“W-Well... I like her to some extent?” Nanase replied as she twirled her hair around her finger.
“Uh, this goes way beyond ‘some extent.’”
There was merch of Shiratani everywhere. She had merch of the other members of Shinozaka41 lying here and there too, but eighty percent of it must’ve been Shiratani merch.
“Right? Isn’t it amazing?” Hikari said proudly.
“Yeah. I feel like I’m in a different world in here.”
Nanase dug her fist into Hikari’s head.
“Ow?! Th-That was mean, Yuino-chan!”
“You’re the mean one here. You better reflect upon what you’ve done.” I could practically see manga-style sound effects rumbling behind her intimidating expression.
Hikari drooped and bowed over and over. “S-Sorry...”
“Good grief.” Nanase let out a long sigh and opened a bottle of water.
“You know, if you look closely, Shiratani resembles Hikari,” I remarked.
“Ulp?!” Nanase coughed, choking on her water.
“Y-Yuino-chan? Are you okay?”
“Y-Yes. Water went down the wrong tube. That’s all...”
What’s with her all of a sudden? Nanase sure is all over the place today.
“I, I don’t particularly see the resemblance,” Nanase said quickly. She refused to make eye contact.
“Really? What do you think, Hikari?”
“Hmm. Do I really look like an idol?” she asked, pleased by my observation.
As expected of a self-proclaimed school idol. Look at that high self-esteem!
“E-Enough! You didn’t come here to fool around!” Nanase pushed us out of her room.
Very good point.
This time, she successfully herded us into the music room. There was a grand piano sitting in the middle of the room, and on one end there were other instruments, like a guitar, resting on their stands. The walls were lined with soundproofing material.
“Wow, this is awesome.” It feels like a music room, all right. It’s bigger than Nanase’s room.
There were already two folding chairs set up near the piano. A matching foldable table was situated in front of them, with cups and plastic bottles of tea placed on top. As she had stated earlier, she was all set here. We sat down in our seats.
“Okay, I shall begin. You can drink tea as you please; I don’t mind,” Nanase said, as though she were collecting herself.
“By the way, what song are you going to play?” I asked.
“For the time being, I don’t have any plans to perform for any competitions or recitals,” she said. “Do you have any requests?”
Hikari’s hand eagerly shot up. “Oh, then can I suggest a song?”
“Yes.”
“Yay! Then, to start, I’d like to hear Liszt’s ‘La Campanella’!”
“That song isn’t at a difficulty you’d typically start with...but no matter.” Nanase smiled sardonically.
She faced the piano and placed her fingers on its keys. She took a deep breath, and then began to play. Her fingers moved so fast that it was honestly terrifying.