“I see. Considering the two-week deadline, that does seem like the perfect plan.”
“Exactly. Plus, my charming, girlish voice will be like giving a metal club to an oni, or wings to a tiger—it’ll really clinch the deal. I can already see the red super chats flying in as I pull off a bunch of godlike plays in quick succession.”
“You’re a real materialist, you know that?”
I knew how often she’d searched her own name after her debut as the Masked Sailor. Maybe she was actually quite hungry for external approval.
“Besides, I’ve always wanted to try streaming video games! Some people are only good at chatting away and are total crap at gaming, and yet they still have tons of fans. When I see that, it really gets me hot under the collar.”
“I mean, I guess I understand the sentiment.”
Considering how much she loved video games, it made sense she’d have a lot of opinions about them. Maybe this was less approval-seeking and more a rebellion against society.
“Moving along, the world of DIY computers has grown quite desolate recently. You used to be able to get parts right in Shinjuku. But now you can barely find them outside of Akiba. For someone who wants to get out-of-the-box failures and compatibility issues resolved in a matter of seconds, there’s really nothing like a good, old-fashioned brick-and-mortar store.”
“Yeah, it does seem like there’s a lot fewer people these days who are serious about computers.”
As the two of us stood in the yard trading small talk, Miss Hoshizaki arrived. Type Twelve was with her.
They’d just turned off the lane and entered through the rough break in the yard’s block wall that served as an entrance.
“Huh?” Our senior coworker gazed at us, perplexed. “I didn’t know you two were here, too.”
“Hello, Miss Hoshizaki,” I replied.
“I see you have no problem leaving your sister behind,” remarked Ms. Futarishizuka. “She must be off from school today.”
“She said she was going out with friends, so I decided to spend my day here. There are too many distractions at home. This way, I can focus on recording my videos. All I need is my smartphone, after all.”
“Oh? Then what is that huge travel bag for?”
Miss Hoshizaki had a large Boston bag hanging from her arm. And for some reason, she was in her school uniform, despite it not being a school day. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, either, opting instead for her usual glasses. Of course, students often walked around in their uniforms even on the weekend these days. Maybe I was just overthinking it.
“That’s a secret. Speaking of, you’re dressed rather strangely. Are you doing electric work?”
“Sure am. And if any of you would like more outlets in your room, I suppose I could swing by on my way through.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass. I brought an extension cord from home.”
“My, aren’t you well-prepared.”
“Well, I want to get at least one video uploaded by the end of the day.”
Just as she’d said last time we met, Miss Hoshizaki seemed to have struck upon some juicy idea. I listened to her triumphant tone and began to grow anxious. I was now in quite a fix. It seemed I’d already been left in the dust.
Before long, my neighbor and Abaddon joined us, their faces popping out from behind the block wall. Abaddon was floating at my neighbor’s side, as usual.
“Hello, mister.”
“Oh, you’re right. Everyone really is here.”
They don’t seem surprised to see us. From Abaddon’s comment, it appears they already knew we were gathering. I hoped they hadn’t felt compelled because of my decision.
“You have the day off from school, right?” I said. “Are you sure you want to spend it here?”
“I didn’t have anything else to do, so I figured I would come work on my video. I don’t have to be anywhere in particular to think up a script. It looks like everyone else had the same idea, huh?” She glanced at the under-construction shed and at Miss Hoshizaki’s travel bag—exactly what we’d just been talking about.
“Hey, now. Don’t leak any intel on our video, even if it’s just small talk.”
“If that’s enough to lose us the contest, we probably didn’t have any chance to begin with.”
“A script?” said Miss Hoshizaki. “Are you making a video with a story to it?”
“Well, what’s your video going to be about?”
“Oh, that’s still a secret.”
“Then so is ours.”
My neighbor and Miss Hoshizaki were acting a little prickly. They’d never gotten along very well, and they soon broke off their conversation and turned their attention elsewhere.
My neighbor was now looking at the shed in the yard. She and Abaddon began to speculate about what Ms. Futarishizuka was up to; it went pretty much exactly how my earlier conversation with Peeps had gone. And Ms. Futarishizuka was only too happy to start talking about her hobby again.
“That’s a big computer,” my neighbor said. “Why is the side of it glass?”
“When it turns on, the parts inside light up in a rainbow of colors.”
“Oh, I see. You can monitor the inside by looking at the color of the lights!”
“Not exactly. They just light up.”
“There’s no other meaning to it?”
“What do you mean by that? It’s super cool! Doesn’t it get you excited just to look at it?”
“She says it’s super cool, Abaddon.”
“Mankind sometimes evolves in directions I can’t understand…”
Maybe I could give video game streaming a shot, too. I thought of a few titles I remembered playing in the past. If it was just a gameplay video, I could probably edit it myself. But depending on the game, it might take me a while just to play through it. I was glad I’d already made a video and had a grasp on how long editing would take.
Just then, I heard someone scampering around in the living room. A second later, Lady Elsa ran outside onto the veranda, dressed in an apron. “Um, Futarishizuka! Do you have a moment? I was wondering how much rice I should make for lunch… Huh?”
She spotted us and looked surprised for a moment. But her expression quickly changed into a smile.
“I didn’t know all of you were here, too!” she said. “I was in the kitchen the whole time.”
“Lady Elsa? And Prince Lewis. I didn’t realize you two were here, either,” I said.
“Well, of course they’re here,” said Ms. Futarishizuka. “I couldn’t exactly leave them by themselves at the mansion.”
Prince Lewis was standing behind Lady Elsa. Just like before, he had on clothes from this world—and over that, he wore an apron just like Lady Elsa’s. The frilly design had quite an effect—it seemed like an odd choice but strangely suited him.
“By the looks of things, we’ll need about as much as dinner yesterday,” he remarked.
“Y-yes, sir!” agreed Lady Elsa. “I think so as well.”