Headphone Actor (6 page)

It was no use anymore. This was the worst.

In the first place, why had a junkie that often competes in tournaments come to this school at this kind of timing? I had the worst luck.

Anyway, assuming that Haruka had indeed heard everything earlier, I had to think of an excuse to cover it up as best as I could.

However, surely, if he had only heard it by chance, he wouldn’t be able to fully understand without knowing the context or what those names even meant.

No, I was sure of that.

There was no mistake.

It would be alright.

“Takane, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just fine … Wait—uwaaaaaaaaah!! S-since when have you been …!?”

Because I’d been so concentrated on my own inner conflicts, I hadn’t even noticed that Haruka was suddenly right beside me ….

“Eh? Since when ….? Around when you said, ‘I have no choice but to delete my account and die.’”

I could feel my face heat up in an instant. He’d even heard me talking to myself.

Including that embarrassing part where I’d been worried about my account …..

“Y-you’re wrong! When I said account, I meant—Well, you know, it’s pretty popular, right? The kind you use to chat with your friends ….”

Just what exactly was “wrong,” anyway? Even though Haruka hadn’t actually heard anything, it was definitely suspicious of me to be frantically making of excuses while avoiding eye contact. Better yet, I genuinely thought that somehow should just bury me in the mountains somewhere already.

However, becoming curious of his expression, I slowly lifted my face, and saw that, for some reason, Haruka’s eyes were ablaze with brightly burning flames.

“It was amazing, Takane! I thought that customer earlier was a really scary person at first, but after playing the game with you, he came back and was really nice to me, too! He even said that the game was 
really
 
fun! This has to be that kind of thing, right? Where after the match, everyone becomes friends with each other!”

Haruka suddenly started talking with passion.

His frightened tone from earlier had completed changed to a spirited one of newly-awakened sportsmanship.

I didn’t really care about Haruka’s sudden transformation, but the fact that he hadn’t mentioned anything directly about me brought me a sense of relief.

As I thought, he hadn’t heard anything. If I really stopped to think about it, there was no way that this guy had such good hearing. I’d worried over nothing.

“Oh? Those two really said something like that, huh. Then, taking this as a learning experience, there probably won’t be any more problems. Well, if you leave it in my hands, something like this is an easy win!”

“Yeah! I was kind of worried, but it’s really fun! It’s all thanks to you, Takane!”

That’s right. It’s true that it’d been an irregularity, but in the end, we were able to ensure that the first customer had fun.

Also, if I had been able to win that easily even against that level of an opponent, as long as the nationwide number one player veteran didn’t come, we most likely wouldn’t be losing our prize.

Looking at these results, we were off to a very good start. If those two had already left, then there was no longer any reason for concern.

With where the Science Preparation Room was located, it probably wouldn’t be as crowded compared to other booths; it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let loose a bit while waiting for more customers.

With my throat completely try from the built-up anxiety, I decided to take a drink from the sports drink I’d placed under the desk, as if to drink to my victory.

“Takane, you’re amazing ….! And so cool! LightingDancerEne!? I’d love to see that ‘Phantom Waltz –Holy Nightmare–‘ technique for myself, too!”

Instead of flowing down into my stomach, the sports drink in my mouth was instead spit out in midair.

What remained in my mouth entered my trachea splendidly, causing me to cough violently.

“Uwaaaah!! What happened all of a sudden, Takane!? A-are you okay!?”

Haruka was helping me by rubbing my back, but if possible, I wanted to disappear from this place already.

With my skirt soaking wet from the spilled sports drink, and how violently I was coughing, all my thoughts were gradually disappearing.

Rather, I wanted to die, right here and now.

“Uuu … Haa …. Haa … How do you know … that …..!”

Regaining my breath somewhat, I asked this question while wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. But perhaps it was already too late to ask. After all, he’d just said my handle name and special move without a single stutter.

“Ah, that customer earlier was really excited about talking about you, Takane. And I was happy to hear about a lot of stuff, too!”

“Ah, ahh, ahhhh …..”

Unable to even wipe the sports drink off my skirt, I could only moan with my head drooped down. It was over.

Farewell, my school life. The Culture Festival had been pretty fun, but honestly, it was already becoming a memory that I’d rather forget.

“Eh? Eh? Why do you seem so depressed about it? You’re amazing, you know! You’re famous and you have a lot of fans, right!? It’s like you’ve suddenly become someone I hardly know anymore~”

Haruka had started rubbing my back again, but the words “somehow I hardly know anymore” stabbed mercilessly into my heart.

That’s right. Thinking about it sensibly, I was a far cry from a normal girl. If shopping was my hobby, that would still be normal. And if club activities were my hobby, I’d probably be seen as an active and lovely girl.

However, even I couldn’t find the charm in a girl that was a heavy player in a zombie-slaughtering game.

It was only because Haruka was misunderstanding the situation that he could say these things. If he actually knew about my usual routine, that would make him back off for sure.

That, in itself, might make him want to stop being friends with me; just thinking about it scared me.

“Muu … Takane, I may not understand why you’re so worried, but It’s not like I’ll hate you or anything, no matter how much you change. So don’t be so down about it. Oh, right! Will you teach me how to play next time? Let’s play it together! …. Hey, are you listening?”

Haruka said this while still rubbing my back.

Whether this guy realized it or not, the fact that he could so casually say these embarrassing things was what bothered me. He was probably like this with everyone. Maybe he was just straightforward, maybe just pure and innocent, but he was simple.

But, that was exactly why what he’d said about not hating me sounded so relieving.

Thinking about it like this, I was pretty simple, too.

Without really understanding if it was from embarrassment or happiness, I felt like crying, unable to bring myself to respond or even face Haruka.

“Excuse me~! We’d like to try playing~”

Suddenly, I heard a voice that sounded like a customer from beyond the door. Of course, the Culture Festival had just started. This wasn’t the time to be spacing out.

As I wiped away my tears in a hurry and went to get the door, I realized that my skirt was still soaking wet.

“Uuu …. Ahh …..”

Stuck in a stance that was like a standing start pose for a track event, Haruka rushed past me to open the door and went out.

Even though he would usually react slowly all the time, it was only in times like these that he was surprisingly attentive.

Pulling out several tissues from the box on the shelf, I quickly wiped down my skirt, as well as the floor.

It wasn’t a lot since it’d only been what had been in my mouth, so I finished wiping up the sports drink in a few seconds.

Balling up the used tissues, I threw them into the trash can in the back of the room and headed for the door as if nothing had happened.

I opened the door a little, and gave Haruka a look to signal that everything was fine now. In front of the door stood the owner of the voice from earlier: a boy that looked to be in his second year in middle school.

“Ah, is it okay now? It looks like he wants to try, so I leave it to you to make it another heated match!”

Haruka said this with flames burning in his eyes again. It wasn’t like this was a sports competition or anything, but putting it into perspective as enjoying it as a game together, and both aiming for the best, it was true that there was something like a sportsman mentality.

“Surprisingly, this guy actually gets it,” I thought happily as I, too, faced the next match with a fired-up fighting spirit.

“Ah, is Onee-san going to be one I’ll challenge? I look forward to playing against you.”

The challenger, a brunette boy wearing a black parka, flashed a casual smile that seemed to hint at something else, and bowed his head.

“Ah, yes, I look forward to playing with you, too! I’ll be explaining the rules then, so please come on in!”

Opening the door wide, the boy came in while commenting, “So cool~”

“I-I’ll do my best, then.”

I said to Haruka, who was still all fired-up, and closed the door.

“Umm, I will now explain the rules! In a moment, you’ll be challenging me in the game that’s there in the center. The one that takes down the most enemies is the winner! Simple, right?”

I tried to give a big sister-like explanation with a desperately forced smile.

This time, the customer seemed quite normal. No, it was probably only because the first customer had been too much of a different species that made me think this ….

“Ohh~ Seems like fun! Even though they don’t seem to be here …. How about it? Do you want to try, Kido?”

“Doesn’t it? ….. Hm? Kido? Who—eeek!!”

Although the boy had been facing me and grinning while listening to my explanation, he suddenly started talking to the empty space beside him.

For a second, I didn’t understand what he was doing, but the moment I looked where he was looking, an unbelievable sight jumped out at me.

Up until a moment ago, I was sure that there had only been that one boy.

But now, standing beside him was hooded girl of about the same height.

It was dark, so I couldn’t see her expression very well, but the voice that muttered, “Yeah,” was definitely a girl’s.

“Ah, wh-wh-wh-what ….”

I was so shocked that I could barely keep standing. I was so certain that this girl had not been here when we’d talked in the hallway earlier, or even when he’d been let into the classroom.

There hadn’t been any opportunity to enter the room in the one second that the door had been open. If I thought about it, she must have come in together with the boy, but …. I couldn’t get away from the feeling that she had just suddenly appeared.

“Onee-san, are you okay? Ah, if it’s her you’re wondering about, she’s been here the whole time. She kind of has a weak presence, so people often don’t notice her …. —Ouch!!”

The girl seemed to take offense to being called a “weak presence,” and hit the boy in the ribs.

But even if she did have a weak presence, was it really so weak that she’d go completely unnoticed like this?

—Could she possibly be some kind of ghost? This thought crossed my mind, but that was completely unrealistic. For someone like me, who had absolutely no belief in extreme supernatural things like the cognitive body of a ghost, it definitely made more sense that she was “occasionally overlooked.”

“…. Could we hurry up and start already?”

“Eek …! Y-yes, of course! Please, make your way to the seats in the back ….!”

Putting the girl’s true identity aside, it would be a good idea to end this as soon as possible.

But suppose she was a ghost, it wasn’t like she’d intentionally do me any harm. Most likely.

…. I didn’t think there would be any curses or anything, either. Probably.

But, if instead of picking up the controller with her own hand, she made it float in midair and started manipulating it, that’s when I would run. Persuading myself in a manner that I didn’t really understand, I made my way towards the seats.

I arrived at the seats together with the girl, but even now, my heart was still beating at a quickened pace.