The weekend.
Kai was watching a Let’s Play video in his bedroom on the second floor of his home.
Well, calling it a “Let’s Play” might be stretching the “Let’s” part a bit. The video’s uploader, jyunjyun1203, was the silent type—he didn’t speak a word of commentary or even use a Vocaloid narrator in his videos, instead opting for just the occasional pop-up text. His channel, originally created with a focus on the Monster Hunter series, was updated with video after video of godlike play.
Kai became a fan back when JJ (lovingly pronounced “Jay-Two”) started uploading in the MH4U days, and he’d been spellbound by his expert technique for the five years or so since then.
Sometimes Kai would watch the same video on repeat, and other times he would go wild over a new video he’d been eagerly anticipating. It had been a while since MHW came out, so it was losing steam among the big streamers (though the release of its expansion, Iceborne, had put some coals on the fire about five months ago). However, JJ would still provide the content Kai craved. It wouldn’t come often or with any notice, but it would come.
Right now, Kai was riveted by the Arch-Tempered Lunastra solo hunt video that JJ uploaded on Friday night. And when the Arch-Tempered Teostra joined the fray before JJ dispatched it with flair? Kai got hyped. His eyes were glued to the screen of the old laptop opened on top of his desk.
Meanwhile, Jun had come to hang out early in the afternoon. She was lazing around on Kai’s bed, engrossed in a selection from Kai’s library. Her posture was relaxed, with one of Kai’s pillows under her belly. Maximum comfy mode had been engaged.
If she kept that up, Kai would have trouble sleeping since her scent would be rubbed into his pillow... but for obvious reasons, he couldn’t quite tell her to stop. He’d be far too embarrassed to tell the truth if she asked why.
“Whoooooa, Dr. Keine is freakin’ scary... and so freakin’ cool...”
Jun, still lying on her stomach, couldn’t keep herself from lifting her shins and kicking against the bed. She had her nose buried deep in the pages as she wriggled in sheer exhilaration.
“I know; you don’t see that one coming. She owns.”
Kai’s video was just wrapping up, so he gave a response to Jun’s reactions.
“But personally, I’m a fan of the Merchant, Masato. There’s nothing that guy can’t pull off.”
“Totally. Men with a whiff of danger are so cool!”
As they continued talking about their manga impressions, Kai stood up from his chair. He casually strolled over to his bookshelf and casually pulled out a paperback copy of High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World! This was the light novel that the manga currently giving Jun the shivers was based on.
He casually sat down on the side of the bed and casually suggested, “You know, if you’d like to pick up where the manga adaptation leaves off, you can always read the novels.”
“I’ll pass on any word-having books.”
“Well, the same author wrote Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which is pretty sick!”
“I watched all of the Chivalry anime, and I own every volume of the manga, so...”
“You can learn how the Seven Stars Battle Festival ends if you read the novels, though.”
“Words make me sleepy, so I’ll pass.”
“Guh...”
Jun lay down the whole time and didn’t even look at Kai, yet still brought him to rue his fate.
Jun was like Kishimoto and Satou in that she loved manga but never read light novels. They wouldn’t get excited over what happened after the “Love Hunter Ringo” chapter or the “Dragon Fanging His Ittou Shura at Night” scene with Kai.
Only on the rare occasions where Jun was desperate to find out what happened after a light novel-based anime ended, and only on the rare occasions where the manga adaptation also hadn’t caught up, would she reach for the source material. And even then, Kai got radio silence on her feedback after one or two volumes. She had absolutely zero reading endurance.
Kai really wished he had more light novel friends!
Well, she is who she is. I don’t want to force my hobbies onto her.
Kai regretfully returned High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World! to his bookshelf. Until the day arrived when Kai found another light novel he could suggest to Jun, he would return to the veil of the shadows, awaiting his chance as a tiger awaits his prey.
With his grand scheme returned to the backburner, Kai sat back down on the edge of the bed. Jun once again immersed herself in the manga version of High School Prodigies. Kai knew that this otaku friend of his was the type to read her favorite scenes over and over immediately after finishing a volume. That was fine. All well and good. Except...
Earth to Jun, I can see your panties again...
It must have happened when she was kicking her legs around earlier. Her already short skirt was... flipped up. Everything from the pure white cloth that’s never supposed to be seen to the meticulous lace embroidery seemed to beg its viewer to shout, “I see London, I see France!”
Well, she is who she is.
Kai was about to warn her before he thought twice. Jun was so enthralled in her reading that she didn’t seem to notice her disheveled clothing. If Kai were to point it out, he’d just be going out of his way to embarrass her. But if he were to casually straighten out her skirt and pretend he never saw a thing, that would solve everything, wouldn’t it?
Yeah, let’s do that.
Kai, like a perfect gentleman, reached slowly and softly toward the hem of Jun’s skirt. But halfway through, he had a startling realization.
If she notices me as I pinch her skirt, won’t I be the one who’ll die of embarrassment?
Perhaps it’d be wise to abort the operation.
...Or so Kai considered, but he shook those doubts off and convinced himself that there was no turning back after coming this far. He just had to complete his mission perfectly. Just conceal his presence, like a ninja. The gentleman ninja, Nakamura. Kai Nakamura.
Carefully... Carefully...
He stealthily pinched the hem of her skirt.
At that moment, Jun twitched and tensed her body.
Forgive meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Kai shrieked silently.
Yep, of course she’d notice that. Yep, of course she wouldn’t overlook her skirt getting grabbed.
Kai blurted his apologies and regrets in his head... until he realized again. Jun seemed liked she’d tensed up unconsciously. Yet she still said nothing. Her gaze was still fixed on her High School Prodigies manga.
Wait, did she not catch that?
Was she just tensing up in response to a twist in the manga? Did that volume even have any twists worth tensing up over? Either way, if Jun didn’t notice, then Kai was in the clear. He carefully lowered her skirt and straightened it out. Mission complete.
Having snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, Kai wiped the sweat he’d worked up from his brow. He savored the satisfaction of having done a good deed. He took pride in his sense of noblesse oblige, the duty of any gentleman.
Which was why he was the one who didn’t notice two important things...
One, Jun’s tension hadn’t faded. And two, she was now beet-red up to her ears.
Once 3 p.m. came around, Kai’s mom brought up some freshly purchased strawberries as a snack. She carried a plate that was piled high with them all the way to Kai’s room on the second floor... and then stayed to help them clear it off as she chatted with Jun.
“You’ve got to hear this one, Jun! So this idiot son of mine—”
“C’mon mother, be a bit kinder to him. On the last quiz we took, Kai scored a—”
Yada yada, yada yada.
Kai’s mother (age 39) engaged in unrestrained gossip that she insisted counted as “girl talk.” It was an atmosphere that Kai, as her son, found more than a bit uncomfortable.
Well, she’d give them some peace and quiet after less than half an hour, so Kai wasn’t going to make a fuss. But after she left, Jun asked Kai a question as they were deciding what game to play together.
“It’s almost Golden Week, Kai. Whatcha doin’ this year?”
“Not sure, but it doesn’t look like we’re having a family vacation.”
Kai had an idea of what she had in mind based on everything she talked about with his mom, so he answered immediately. Incidentally, he heard that it was Miyakawa family tradition to go on a three-day, two-night vacation for GW every year.
“So, you’re working again this year?”
Jun’s followup question had a dash of criticism in its tone. Kai filled every day of his GW with work shifts last year, and she was clearly still holding that against him.
Beaver Video Rental was open 365 days a year. Not by request of the workers, mind you—they at least wanted time off for the major holidays like Golden Week, New Year’s, and Obon. As a compromise, Beaver’s owner offered bonus pay (3,000 yen per day) to anyone working during those periods.