The following day.
Sorry to veer completely off topic here, but recently I’ve gotten really into pretending that I’m hypercompetent lately.
A true pro wakes with the dawn… That kind of thing.
I say pretending…but I don’t really do anything. I just set some background music playing in my head and prepare myself for an elegant morning as if I’m playing the role of some hypercompetent manager in a TV drama.
I’m lazy by nature, so if I don’t deceive myself like that, I can’t bring myself to move my body early in the morning.
Anyway…
I played some pump-up background music in my head this morning as well, and after subjecting Shiika and Akiba to another demonic morning training session, I headed off to school.
On the train, I checked Azusa Harajuku’s Impachi Live channel. Harajuku, a first-year student in the Fashion Department. Naturally, I was still keeping up my manifesting stuff. As I fiddled with my phone, I pretended I was some kind of elite office worker, off to an important job in the city.
But then my elite-worker face froze up, like time had suddenly stopped.
“Gak, what’s wrong?”
“You look like some kind of ugly graphic novel character.”
Shiika and Akiba both noticed something was going on with me and looked at me with quizzical expressions.
Ah, Shiika, my little sister. Always so sweetly concerned.
As for you, Akiba…I’ll never make the mistake of thinking you’re kindhearted. Ever again!
“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just looking at Azusa Harajuku’s channel, for strategy purposes, you know…”
I kept my tone low, like I was telling a ghost story in the midst of a hot summer night.
Yes, I’d just seen horrifying things. On the screen of my phone, a horrific image, playing out in real time…
“Hello, everyone! Today, I’ve come to a specialty store in Tokyo to try my hand at blending perfume. Look at this. Isn’t this a cute little bottle? This is packed with a blend of scents I put together with my own hands! Isn’t that unusual?”
Azusa Harajuku picked up a small bottle with slim fingers and brought it close to the camera lens.
Her tone was soft and melodic, her hair fluffy and bouncy. Her makeup was neither too strong nor too little. It was just the right amount. And she wore elegant clothing that, from just a brief glance, looked to be of high quality.
Was she really a high school student? She was so feminine, so mature, I almost couldn’t believe it.
But she was the same age as Shiika. Unbelievable.
She was the epitome of a full-fledged, gold-plated older-sister type… Like a rich, sophisticated girl from the Minato Ward of Tokyo.
Genius talent or ordinary person aside… Just looking at her, she seemed like some kind of foreigner, someone from a completely different place, who spoke a completely different language. And I was supposed to approach her with an offer of collaboration? The thought was enough to crack my mind right down the middle.
“I can’t approach a woman like this!!!”
Bursting into the classroom, I cried out shamefully in front of all the members of the Shibuya Gang.
Akiba, Shibuya, and Komae stared at me with blank eyes.
Oh! The harsh gazes of my friends… So cruel…
I’d already communicated, via text with my friends, the plan to snag a collab with Azusa Harajuku from the Fashion Department. But I’d hidden the fact that the source of my info was Io Kanda, just because I didn’t want to answer any awkward questions.
Still, showing off the strategy as if it was my own brainchild… That ended up backfiring. My friends were clearly thinking, What’s he doing freaking out now? Wasn’t this his idea?
But! Even so! What else could I do but freak out?!
“A woman of this caliber is too scary! I just know she’ll look at me and think, Eurgh, who is this creepy virgin and why is he talking to me? Oh well, if there’s money in it for me, I guess I’ll accept!!!”
“Well, what do you expect? Dorky dudes don’t get a great reception in general, you know.”
“Akiba… Come with me to launch our attack on the Fashion Department! I’m just too intimidated to go by myself!”
“Oh, quit your whining. You’re an embarrassment.”
“I’m an embarrassment? Then what are you, cool as a cucumber? In that case, you can help me! Right?!”
“No way! I’m not going into that unfamiliar territory! Why do I have to go?!”
“See? See? You have the exact same qualms as me! Yet you call ME embarrassing?!”
“Shut up! I’ve been sweating my butt off from dance practice, you know! It’s basically your job to do the background work!”
“Don’t just stand there stating facts! Where’s your humanity?!”
“Stop spouting trash like a human garbage receptacle!”
“Yes! I AM trash! That’s the point!”
Akiba and I continued arguing fruitlessly.
At some point, I turned a hopeful eye on Shiika.
“Incidentally…what are the chances of you coming with me, Shiika?”
“Zero. I’m not good at…social spaces.”
“Right, right… Yes, I knew that…”
She and I are brother and sister, you see. Our trauma triggers are very much of the same type.
There was never any chance of me relying on Shiika anyway. My job as an accessory to Shiika’s talent was to foster an environment where she could focus fully on developing her gifts. What was I thinking, turning to Shiika for help? I was a failure of a manager.
“You know…”
When I was wondering what to do, Shibuya lightly raised her hand.
“…Do you want me to go with you?”
“…Real?”
For real, I wanted to say.
“Real,” Shibuya said, twisting her meticulously groomed hair around one finger. “Actually, I’ve been really keen to check out the Fashion Department classes. I heard they’re pretty impressive, even in a school like ours. I might catch a glimpse of some amazing new trends.”
“Oh, okay, then… Shibuya! You’re the best!”
I was so moved that I involuntarily grabbed Shibuya’s hand. A handshake of gratitude. Pumped it up and down to express my joy.
Shibuya’s cheeks turned faintly red.
“Don’t go overboard. And don’t just grab my hand like that, like it’s no big deal.”