“Nuh-uh, no way! It’s Mareitaso! She’s real and she’s coming home with me!”
“I mean, I’m pretty sure the voice actress is a real person? Not that I’ve ever met her. And don’t call a character by their performer’s name, you’re supposed to call her the Guild Girl.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right! I’m showing a lack of respect to the source material and author! I owe Kumo an apology on my hands and knees!”
“I mean, I’ve never met Kumo either, I’m not sure you have to go that far...”
Jun was so excited that her conversational abilities were losing touch with reality, so Kai just had to chuckle and match her wavelength. This gave Kotobuki just enough time to recover and ask,
“E-Excuse me, but could you perhaps let me go?”
She pleaded for mercy, though her voice was still faint. Jun acquiesced and loosened her grip; it seemed like she couldn’t turn down a request from the Guild Girl. That said, she clearly had no intention of letting go completely. Judging from Kotobuki’s sulking and sighing, she seemed to give up too.
“So, may I ask who this person who seems to lack any notion of restraint or respect might be?”
“I’m Jun Miyakawa! But you can call me Jun! Also, no need to be so polite!”
“Understood, Miyakawa.”
“D’awww, she’s emotionally distancing herself, what a sweetheart! I’m gonna die from cuteness!!!”
Kai failed to understand what part of this hit Jun’s tastes.
“Perhaps you could provide an answer, Nakamura?”
“I could. You recall the person I’ve talked to you about and even received your counsel regarding, no? This final boss of face-nuzzling that’s befallen you is the best friend of mine in question.”
“Huh?! Wha?????” This was apparently such a shock to Kotobuki that her empty eyes finally regained their vigor.
“Did that really warrant such a flabbergasted response?”
“This is really the very person you claim visits you five times a week? The one who always misfires upon your position when you play Tanks and costs you roughly ten Lifepowders per quest in Monster Hunter?”
“I think your memory may be a tad selective, but yes, this is her.”
“Oh, I see. So, that’s how you talk about me to other people, huh, Kai?”
“I just said Kotobuki had a selective memory!” argued Kai, desperate to defend himself against Jun’s critical glare. Well, he couldn’t blame her for giving him the stink eye...but why was Kotobuki staring daggers at him too?
“I had heard this friend of yours was a girl,” said Kotobuki in an astonished yet somehow accusatory tone, “but I never expected it would be one so pretty...”
“If I may gloss over your many inconsiderate wordings, what kind of girl did you expect her to be?”
“I was certain she had to look like a gender-swapped version of you...”
“Please don’t use your imagination to craft such monstrosities.”
Kai was none too pleased to hear about this assumption, but Jun just giggled about how she could totally see it. Kai wondered if she understood that Kotobuki was talking about her.
“Anyway,” suggested Jun, “now that we’re all buddies, how about we hit up the mall together?” She gave a carefree laugh as though she’d come up with the best idea in the world. But the eyes buried in the cleavage of her bosom once again lost their luster as a voice rose up that said,
“Since when did we become buddies?”
“No, wait,” said Kai, scrambling to defuse the situation. “Don’t go there, Jun!”
“Huh? Why not? I wanna play with the Guild Girl too. You can’t hog her forever, Kai.”
“No, I mean, that’s not the issue here!”
It wasn’t just because the two had reservations at the Italian restaurant. I might be late to realize it, but you can’t go on a date and then get all friendly with another woman, right?! Just because Jun’s my best friend in the world doesn’t mean Kotobuki’s gonna warm up to her!
Kai was so used to spending every day with Jun that he took the situation for granted. Truly a mistake he should strive to never repeat. I’ll apologize to Kotobuki later. Hopefully she’ll cut me some slack...
If one were to draw a Venn diagram of the years that Kai had been alive and the years he spent without a girlfriend, it would form a perfect circle. This whole dating thing was like a strange new world to him. He wasn’t used to this and couldn’t handle it with much tact, but he would at least be sorry.
That would come later, though. His first order of business was to tear Kotobuki from the clutches of this final boss of face-nuzzling.
“Hey, Jun, can I be honest for a sec?” Kai was about to tell her that they were kind of on a date, but just before he could get the words out...
“Jun, could you perhaps put two and two together already?”
A voice suddenly came from behind him. It was another voice he’d heard before; one that was refined, elegant, and yet as cold as ice.
Welp, thought Kai. There ya go! Jun’s a super-popular friend-haver, of course she ain’t shopping alone! I had a feeling this was gonna happen...
A shiver ran down Kai’s spine as he turned around. There, he faced a cold-blooded woman who exuded the prestige of a yakuza’s woman far beyond her years. And her name was Reina Fujisawa, the beautiful queen commanding the throne at the top of the school food chain. Her beauty was no exaggeration; she was actually signed to a talent agency in the hopes of becoming a full-time model. She apparently had been best friends with Jun since before they entered high school. As for Kai? He had only entered the ranks of diplomatic relations with her just the other day under their curious commonality of “being friends with Jun.”
The ice queen greeted them all with her trademark flawlessly faked smile. Jun may have been sulking, but Reina dragged her off regardless.
“My apologies. I’ll get this bother out of your hair, so don’t hold it against her.”
Reina smoothed things over with Kotobuki while she continued to project a smile that was too pretty and too practiced to be natural. As someone who didn’t know what that smile hid, Kotobuki probably saw Reina as nothing more than the kind of mature beauty that could take her breath away.
“O-Oh, no, worry not. I hardly noticed her presence.”
Kai also tried to extend his thanks, but it took everything he had to squeak out a faint and shriveled, “Thanks, I owe ya.”
Reina kept her fake smile until the end before saying curtly, “Tomorrow. At school.”
She wanted to talk.
Another shiver ran down Kai’s spine.