Mizuto Irido: Bragging
“And yeah, so my parents were home for Obon, right? So I told them that Akatsuki and me are dating, and can you guess what they said?”
“‘Weren’t you two already dating?’”
“How’d you know?!”
I was walking while listening to Kawanami report on what happened over the phone. Though the Gozan no Okuribi had come and gone and Obon with it, summer hadn’t ended yet. I scowled as I felt the rays of sun on my face.
“I bet you’ll hear the same thing from our classmates,” I said. “I don’t think recently it’s been too much of a secret that you two were childhood friends.”
“What? So just ’cause we’re kinda close, they already thought we were dating? Man, the world’s gone crazy.”
“I mean this in the most polite way possible: Are you really one to talk, Mr. Self-proclaimed ROM expert?” I’ve thought the same exact thing about you two a billion times already.
“Oh, right. I guess I gotta change that title of mine.”
“You were nothing more than a peeping tom to begin with.”
“Irido, do you know where ‘ROM’ comes from?”
“It’s an acronym for Read Only Member, isn’t it? At least, that’s what you told me.”
“Yeah, but actually, some people say it comes from CD-ROM, so it could be read as Read Only Memory.” CDs? Oh, like the ones that played music? They’re not really used these days. “The antonym of ROM is RAM, which is Random Access Memory. It means that you can read and record memory.”
“So?”
“That means from now on, you can just call me RAM-chan.”
“Goodbye.”
“Hey, come on! I set you up for that joke! Aren’t you at least gonna quip back?”
What’s the point of going through the effort of making a name for someone who both watches and partakes in romance? You’re just a normal human being. But would saying that be a little inconsiderate? Ever since I’d begun running Isana’s socials, I’d been more careful about my words.
“So, kinda off topic, but now that all that’s settled, I wanna thank you,” he said.
“Thank me? For what?”
“For hearing me out and coming all the way to Osaka. If you need any help let me know. I got connections.”
Hmm. It’s true that I’m lacking in the connections department. It may not be a bad idea to change that.
“Okay. You’ll be my informant from now on.”
“Oh, I like that! Sounds cooler than bein’ a RAM. I’ll call myself a romance informant, and I don’t come cheap.”
“There’s no money involved at all. Keep all the information to yourself. Just watch everyone quietly like you’ve been doing.”
Then again, he hasn’t been good at just being an observer. But as I thought this, I heard a voice in the distance.
“Ko-kun?”
“Ah, sorry. I’m headin’ out soon, actually.”
“On a date?”
“Uh... Well, yeah...” he said a little hesitantly. Then he sheepishly added, “We’re not just childhood friends anymore.”
After that we said our goodbyes and hung up. This time, it felt like he was actually bragging to me. I put my phone away just as the place I was heading to came into view—the apartment building that Isana lived in.
Ever since I’d gotten back together with Yume, I’d stopped coming here as much, but today was a day that I wanted to have a face-to-face with Isana no matter what. During the Obon holidays, Isana received a message about doing illustrations for a music video. Today, I was going in person to hear her answer on what she wanted to do.
Mizuto Irido: Divide
I entered the Higashira household as I usually did and lightly knocked on Isana’s door.
“I’m here,” I said.
“Come in...” a sleepy voice responded.
Hearing that, I opened her door and saw Isana lying on her bed while playing a game on her phone. She was wearing a camisole and loose shorts. As usual, she was wearing the most defenseless of outfits. I shut the door, sighing at the cold air from the AC as she leisurely kicked her bare legs on her bed. She didn’t even look like she was going to turn to face me.
“Please wait a moment. I will complete my daily quests momentarily.”
“That better be research for work, right?”
“W-Well, of course! It goes without saying that I am analyzing the pinnacle of art in an attempt to grow my own skills.”
Ever since she’d started drawing for real, anything could become research material for her, and it felt like as a result she’d become more self-indulgent in her entertainment. I guess it’s not the worst as long as she’s only being sucked into her otaku hobbies. She’s not wrong that it could be reference material.
By the time the sweat on my body from my walk here had disappeared, Isana finally put her phone down by her pillow and sat up with a grunt. Then she sat cross-legged while turning to me, sitting on a cushion on the floor.
“Apologies for the wait.”
“You seem pretty calm. You do know that, depending on your choice today, your life could drastically change, right?”