“Got a new one brewing?” Beaver says, latching right on to me, but I don’t feel like dealing with him right now. I just let it go as I take out my phone. Curiosity has a draft function. Let’s write this bit down for now.
I open the case, and as usual, I go to launch Curiosity…
“Huh?! Whose phone is this?!”
I notice right away. This phone has a familiar-looking case…but it’s definitely not mine! The two-tone mint and vanilla colors are the same, but the phone itself is a different color from mine. There’s no thickness to the case, nowhere to put an entire saijiki—just a couple of cards. How did this happen? I’ve been carrying this thing all afternoon…
Suddenly, I flash back to the collision at the amusement court. Skin revealed under the white, that glint to her mouth…
“Braces…”
“Now what…?”
I stare at that girl’s smartphone case, at a total loss. Not only did I lose my phone—it’s guaranteed that someone else is gonna look at it, too. So hard to deal with… But then, she can’t unlock it, can she? But it’ll have that saijiki inside… Maybe she’ll think it’s weird. It’s like someone is peeping into my bedroom. I hate it.
I go back inside the tent, trying to hide all this. Beaver and Japan must have noticed something is off, though, because they both come into the tent and sit down on either side of me. It’s cramped enough as it is, but with all three of us sitting in it at once, the sardine-can feeling is off the charts.
Her case is the same brand and color scheme, but this one has a mint background with a star in a similar color. I recognize it. It’s a limited-edition piece that came out early in the spring, a little more expensive than their regular lineup, but I think it sold out pretty quickly.
“What’s up?” Beaver asks.
“I think I picked up someone else’s phone.”
I suppose she did first, to be exact, but…
“Someone else’s?”
“Yeah…I think when you bumped into us.”
“Oh, it’s my fault?”
Beaver is as unapologetic as always.
Riiiiiing…
Unexpectedly, a call comes in.
“It’s ringing,” Japan says calmly.
“Huh? What do I do? What should I do?!”
“Why don’t you just answer it?”
You make it sound so easy!
“I…can’t,” I say, my voice cracking. I’m completely losing my mind!
“You don’t have to unlock it to take a call, y’know.”
Japan has a lot of techy knowledge like this.
The phone screen displays the word Julie and a cutesy icon of a face wearing glasses. Is she a friend of that girl’s? I mean, I can pick it up, but I’d just be talking to Julie. It wouldn’t get me any closer to this phone’s owner…
Ah!
“Hey!”
Beaver forcibly takes my phone. Then without hesitation, he presses the ANSWER button on the phone screen and returns it to me.
“Here you go.”
“Hello?”
And he went out of his way to put it on speaker mode, too! The girl’s voice echoes across the tent. Huh? Actually, this voice reminds me of the “agh” I heard from that girl.
“Hellooo?”
“Ah…uh…” I’m still too nervous to speak!
“Um, can you hear me?”
“Mm…?”
Japan brings his face closer—or, really, just starts staring at the screen. “She asked if you can hear her?” Then his index finger goes straight for the phone and presses a button on the display.
“Whoa! What’re you doing?!”
The voice on the other end of the call sounds extremely panicked.
“Marie! Where’s my mask?!”
She sounds really agitated about something. But Marie? Not Julie? The button Japan pressed didn’t change much on our end. The icon of the glasses character just went full screen, is all.
“Huh? What? What’s going on?”
Japan doesn’t respond to me. He’s been staring at the screen for a while. “What’s up?” Beaver asks, moving his face closer to look at the screen.
Suddenly, the icon goes away, revealing a group of three girls.
“Ah…”
The one in the middle is the girl I know. Oh? She’s got a mask on.
“Um…”
“Um!”
We speak up at the same time, our conversation faltering from the start.
“So I think you have my phone…”
The mask hides her mouth, but it’s crystal clear that she’s distressed about this.
“Smile for me!” Japan yells suddenly in a pretty off-putting way.
“Oh, she hung up.”
Just as Beaver had said, the screen switched to an end-of-call screen just after Japan’s outburst. “Awwwww,” he pouted.
“What the hell? That sure was gross of you.”
Beaver shoots Japan a scornful look. But Japan, sitting up, doesn’t even look at him. “For real…?! Like, seriously, that was Smile, wasn’t it?! And Julie and Marie, too…! Is Orange Sunshine back in business?!”
He’s mumbling to himself, perhaps unable to contain his excitement, as his body trembles.
“What are you rambling about? Hey! Japan! What’s this ‘Smile’ and ‘Orange Sunshine’ stuff about?”
“She’s a teen influencer on Curiosity! You know her, Cherry, don’t you?”
I shake my head. I don’t know anything about this. What is it?
“You’re really that stupid?! Her streams are super popular on Curiolive! They’re these three super-cute sisters, and they used to do kid-oriented stuff like toy unboxing videos, but lately Julie and Marie—oh, Julie’s the oldest sister and Marie’s the youngest. Smile’s the middle child. So then, uh, where as I… Oh! Right! Lately, Julie and Marie haven’t been streaming at all; it’s only been Smile in front of the camera, so there’re all these rumors about internal strife and so on. But I never believed any of it, y’know? Orange Sunshine is a really tight-knit group!”
I don’t understand half of what he’s saying.
“Smile’s been streaming solo for a while now, but she’s still really popular! I think she’s broken a million hits overall—”
Riiiiiing…
“Pick it up, pick it up!”
Japan points at the phone, clearly excited.
“No, I can’t…!”
While I’m fumbling around, Beaver once again hits the ANSWER button on his own.
“What the hell, man?!”
“Agh!”
Oh, crap! I shouted too loud.
“No, um… That wasn’t meant for you, um…!”
Beaver must have hit the video call button because unlike before, Smile and the others are already on the screen staring at me…looking offended.
“No, uh… I’m sorry…”
I always yell and scream at the exact moments where I shouldn’t. I’d never make this mistake on Curiosity, at least. It’s all text.
Such are my thoughts as they glare at me reproachfully.