Chapter 6: My Friend’s Little Sister’s Rival Is My Teacher!
“What are you wearing?”
That was the first thing out of my mouth when I showed up at the designated café to find a blonde loli in sunglasses.
This was a fancy place close to the station; I wouldn’t usually come somewhere like this. The terrace was like a slice of an otherworldly, pretentious paradise, and Canary-san sat there, eating pancakes with elegance.
“I’m an idol. I need my camouflage if I’m gonna meet with a guy, chirp. I don’t need some stalker from a rag paper exposing me, chirp!”
“Oh, right. Must be tough to be famous.”
She was totally different from me, who blended into the furniture whether I liked it or not. That had changed a little lately since I started fake-dating Mashiro, but fame within a single classroom was incomparable to fame throughout the whole of Japan. And even my “classroom fame” was the sort of thing everyone experienced.
“Our friend should be swooping in shortly. Go ahead and order yourself something to drink, chirp.” “Sure. Let’s see...” I picked up a menu. “Jeez, that’s expensive!”
A thousand yen for a coffee! And if you wanted something a little more special, it’d cost you an extra five hundred.
I know what you’re thinking. I have sales from Koyagi, I live in a nice apartment, and I can afford to take Mashiro to a fancy French restaurant, so I’m rich. But the money from Koyagi went back into the Alliance budget, which covered the other stuff as expenses. Personally, I didn’t have that much money on me at all. This place was expensive when you considered that it was on top of one of my three meals of the day—and the fancy Canary here acted like it was nothing. I’d hate to be the guy who ended up dating her.
“Don’t panic about the prices, chirp. I’ll cover everything.”
“Huh? But you’re doing me a favor already.”
“Careful, you’re making me look bad. Don’t forget about the pecking order here. Let me take care of you, chirp.”
“All right. Thank you.”
It was easy to forget when she looked so young, but Canary was as much of an adult as Tsukinomori san. It was important to know when to let yourself be treated.
“By the way, your users seem to love your new chick, Kokuryuuin Kugetsu-chan. I’ve seen them twittering about her online. How are your downloads doing?”
“They’re doing well, thanks to your help. I blinked, and we were over two million, so I suddenly had to put in an order for an illustration. Oh, I’ll have a regular iced coffee, please.” I quickly placed my order with the waitress who’d come up to the table the second I’d sat down.
When I looked back at Canary, she was leaning her face on her hands and grinning at me. There was a mischief in her expression that kind of reminded me of Iroha.
“Your downloads are soaring, huh? All thanks to my Kokuryuuin Kugetsu-chan. Ooh, it hurts to be this talented.”
Smug was too weak a word.
“Iroha and I were the ones who polished her up.”
Canary tittered. “When you come up with the original idea, you get to be as proud as a peacock no matter who developed the idea afterwards. Even a great anime with a not-so-great source material’ll get praised, and the same holds true in reverse. It’s one of society’s crueler rules, chirp.”
“I guess that makes sense. But wait, you’ve already got fame and fortune, and yet you’re getting smug over reviews for Koyagi?”
“Of course! I love every project I’m involved in equally, and I’m proud of every last one of them! And if you love something, you can’t forget the pride, chirp!”
The slackers crowed “their” achievements from the rooftops, and the go-getters never admitted to a job well done. It was kind of refreshing to see someone so smug in this country, where a more quiet pride in your work was valued, but it made sense if she was doing it out of love. I never even thought of things that way, so honestly, I’d learned something.
“But yeah, she wouldn’t have developed into the character she was without the basic concept. I’m really grateful. I don’t think the Alliance could have come up with her without you.” “Heh heeeh. But really, I gained a lot from our little summer vacation too, chirp. I think Makigai Namako-sensei came out of his shell a little too, thanks to his work with the Alliance.” “Really?!” I asked, my voice cracking.
“Really! He’s way less uptight than he used to be. He used to be like a poisoned talon, ready to wear his readers down mentally, but since working on Koyagi he’s getting more and more...balanced, I’d say.” “You mean his writing’s gotten gentler?”
“Let’s put it like this. He used to be as toxic as an Australian box jelly, but now he’s more like a giant jellyfish.”
“I don’t know much about jellyfish... You’re saying he’s still a little toxic, right?”
That kind of harshness in his writing was something he was known for, so it wouldn’t do him much good if it disappeared completely.
“Oh, speaking of Makigai-sensei... Here! Take this, chirp!” Canary pulled a book from her bag. The cover was somehow emotional, powerful, and gloomy all at once.
“What? Whoa! The latest volume of Snow White’s Revenge Classroom! Is this what he was writing during the summer in Kageishi Village?”
“That’s the one! I was sure he wouldn’t make it this time, but I managed to pull it off with some begging at the printers’ office, chirp.”
“Sounds like he didn’t make it in time then.”
“Well, it’ll release on time, so he only just about died, chirp.”
“But he still died.”
“Anyway! That’s Makigai Namako-sensei’s latest book. It doesn’t go on sale till next week, but I wanted to get you the sample print before anyone else!”
“Canary-san!”
I was so emotional I could cry. The rest of the Alliance was so used to having Makigai Namako-sensei around that they might’ve forgotten, but I’d always been a huge fan of his. I loved his work so much that I asked him to do the scenarios for Koyagi. It was just a coincidence (but a very lucky one) that he accepted. By all means, I shouldn’t have been able to get us such a talented author. I was a devout follower of his, and this preprint version of his book would now become my bible. “It’s signed too, chirp.”
“Seriously?! I’m gonna treasure this more than anything else in my life ever!”
I was acting like an overexcited kid. I mean, a signed copy of my favorite author’s book! And Makigai Namako was famous for being an anonymous author who never had anything to do with the media. Signed copies of his work just didn’t exist. It was plausible that there were others in a similar situation to me who’d gotten copies, but you never saw them on auction sites, so this was pretty rare.
“Makigai-sensei’s signature... I wonder what it’s like!” Trembling with excitement, I opened the book, searching for a blank space on the first page behind the cover, and...there it was! As brilliant as the brightest of stars, it was...
“To my beloved Aki, from your beloved idol☆ Kiraboshi Kanaria.”
“Why is it your signature?”
I wanted my hopes and dreams back.
I mean, I guess Kiraboshi Kanaria was also worthy of my respect. But it just wasn’t who I was expecting, you know? I’m sure you understand the kind of despair I was feeling right now. Canary burst out in laughter. “Makigai-sensei said he’d rather give you his signature in person, if you ever met up one day. I wasn’t about to rob you of your first, very precious experience! Heh heh! I’m such a sweet little goose!”
“Ah. Right, that actually makes sense.”
I’d never actually met Makigai Namako-sensei in person. But I agreed. I wanted my first signature from him to be in person. And if he felt the same way, then as someone who’d worked together with him on Koyagi, I couldn’t be happier.
“Oh! It looks like our special friend is here. I’ll let my idol persona nest while I go back into editor mode. Try not to be surprised, and don’t say anything, okay?”
“Huh? Oh, sure.”
By editor mode, she probably meant Hoshino Kana—the same normal girl she had been when she gave me her business card. I remembered that the person meeting us was a member of her online community, which she ran as Hoshino Kana.
“Sorry I’m late, Hoshino-san! I was helping prepare for the festival and lost track of time!” “Don’t worry about it. We haven’t been waiting long.”
Who was this girl? Now that Canary was Hoshino Kana again, she seemed way too plain. If I could see her speech on a page, it’d look completely nondescript. I then turned my attention to my fellow student who’d arrived, chest heaving.
She sounded like a girl, and she was wearing the girls’ uniform. She had brown hair with a peculiar twist at—
“Huh?”
“Wha...”
Time froze, taking her and me with it.
We both recognized each other.
“A-Argh! You’re that perverted nerdy stalker!”
“You’re the pervert! And the stalker!”
It was Tomosaka Sasara. The cringey—um, highly interesting—girl who’d decided she was Iroha’s rival. She pointed a rude finger in my face.
“Why are you with Hoshino-san?! Wait, don’t tell me you’re the guy who wants to enter Queen Nevermore and get makeup lessons from me?!”
“That’s him! Ooboshi Akiteru-kun!”
“WHAAAAAAT?!”
A hundred shrill decibels reverberated through the once quiet café.
I sent a silent apology to the staff for being the reason she was here.
***
“Mmm. This boba is so squishy! I love the bubble tea at this place, and the decor is so pretty. This has gotta be one of the best cafés ever!” The cheerful girl sipped at her bubble milk tea. You could take a photo of her right now and paste it into a weekly magazine, and I don’t think anybody would object.
We were still in the fancy café from before. After a surprising and unexpected encounter, along with mutual shouts of “What are you doing here?” things had somehow calmed down to a point that we could hold a normal conversation.
“I thought you were just a typical normie. I’m kinda shocked that you know Canar—Hoshino-san.” “The heck? You still trying to pick a fight?” Sasara narrowed her eyes at me, keeping her straw held in her mouth.
“You don’t need to get so defensive. I was just wondering how an ordinary teenage girl knows an editor from a publishing company. It’s not something you see every day.”
“‘An ordinary teenage girl’? What? You think I’m just an ordinary girl?” Sasara sighed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, right, sorry. You’re not an ordinary teenage girl. You’re a slightly unhinged teenage girl.” “Okay, now you’re just being outright rude.”
“All right, you two. Let’s stop the fighting now. Time is money.”
“Oh! Of course, Hoshino-san!”
The moment Canary stepped in, Sasara melted like a cat getting its chin scratched. It was terrifying, like she had multiple personalities or something.
“Tomosaka-san is a member of my online community. She often comes to my lectures. We talked, and I found out she has a Pinsta account.”
“Oh, yeah. You said something about that at school, Tomosaka.”
“Right.” Canary nodded. “I was very surprised to hear that she’s an influencer with a million followers. I immediately asked her to do some work for my publishing company.”
“Your publishing company? I thought Tomosaka hated nerdy stuff like that. Like light novels, and—” “Ah! Aki-kun, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Canary waved her hand at me: a wordless signal. I shut up. Clearly I’d steered the conversation into dangerous territory.
Just then, my phone buzzed. It was a LIME message from Canary. We’d only just exchanged IDs today to arrange this meeting.
“Sasara-chan hasn’t got a clue that I work with light novels, chirp!”
Seriously?
If Sasara respected her so much, wouldn’t she have looked Hoshino up online to find out what field of work she was in? Though I had heard that young people these days didn’t know how to coogle anything; instead, they only consumed the information fed to them by social media.
Yeah, I know I’m a “young person” too, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. What I mean is, Sasara might have been a textbook example of one of those people.
“I’m always working with popular novels, and so I wanted to branch out and try something new. I decided to ask a few influencers to write me some essays.”
“Your drive to always try new things is so wonderful, Hoshino-san! You’re so serious about the stuff you wanna do too. I have mad respect for the way you stay so true to yourself while tackling new challenges!”
Listen, Sasara, that woman was anything but “true to herself.” She had even called “light novels” “popular novels” instead, to the extent that she emphasized the word. I couldn’t really blame Sasara for her perception, though, and I had a lot of respect for Kiraboshi Kanaria as an example to follow myself, so I did agree with a lot of what Sasara said.
Wait a sec. I almost missed something majorly important there, didn’t I?
“A million followers?”
“That’s right. Tomosaka-san is hot and popular right now on Pinsta.”
Hot and popular meant the same thing in this case, didn’t they?
But I was so shocked by the revelation that the thought dissipated from my mind immediately. “A million Pinsta followers... Wow...”
Unlike TikTak, where new users’ uploads were automatically recommended by the algorithm, Pinsta required steady work to gradually build up response and popularity, so it was unlikely that you would suddenly find yourself at the top of the social media food chain. That was the impression I had, at least.
Maybe I just wasn’t familiar enough with what girls consumed online, but while Koyagi had moderate success on Tweeter, it had never found similar success on Pinsta.
“Well, y’know, it’s not hard when you’re overflowing with charisma!” Sasara wore a triumphant smile and sent several glances my way. She was clearly dying for attention, which was pretty annoying. Though she did have my respect for getting a million followers on Pinsta—it was honestly an impressive number. While she had mentioned using Pinsta at school, I never imagined we were talking about these sorts of numbers. I always thought normies switched off their brains for the sake of wasting as much precious time as possible, but I guess even they were capable of possessing talent as long as they put in the work.
“So? What does a zero-follower loser like you want with a million-follower star like me?” Okay, forget anything I said about being impressed. She was annoying. And if she was going to keep emphasizing the numbers like that, this conversation was going to take forever. I decided I needed to be the one to push things forward.
“I want you to turn me into a girl. I want to dress up as the most beautiful girl the world has ever
seen.”
“You wanna dress as a girl. Okay. Welp, I guess you picked the right girl for the job!” “You don’t seem that shocked.”
“Hm? Why should I be shocked?”
“Uh, I mean. Everyone else freaked out. I was sure you were gonna call me a pervert or something.” Iroha, Mashiro, Midori, Sumire, and Ozu had all failed to hide their surprise. Even Otoi-san, with her lackluster reaction, had noted that I was doing something weird.
“Well, you are a perv for stalking Kohinata and grinning at pictures of 2D girls, but dressing up as a girl is normal stuff, isn’t it? I’ve got friends who do things like that, and I think people are free to wear what they like, regardless of gender, y’know?”
“If you’re that open when it comes to diversity, maybe you could stand to be a little nicer to nerds too.” “Shut it. You can’t just tell me to start liking something I know nothing about.”
“So that’s why there’s still conflict in the world.”
“Huh? The heck are you talking about?”
There were plenty of examples in human history of conflicts started by ignorance, which led to fear. Things you didn’t understand were scary, and people generally hated scary stuff. Anyone who led a normal, honest life would arrive at the same system of values. Sasara was tolerant when it came to things she was familiar with. Everything else got excluded. It wasn’t about whether she liked or disliked something; it was about whether she understood it or not. You could say she was the opposite of Mashiro and I: we didn’t understand normies and therefore preferred to keep our distance. “But yeah, that’s why I don’t care if you wanna turn yourself into a cute girl. I don’t really wanna do makeup on someone I can’t stand, though. And if you’re entering Queen Nevermore, that makes you my rival. Why should I have to do anything that gives my competitor an advantage?” “Don’t be like that, Tomosaka-san,” Canary said. “He could be a powerful rival; imagine if he entered and you still beat him! You’d be an even more spectacular winner than before!”
“You’re so right, Hoshino-san! That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
Her opinions were like a revolving door.
It was like she was totally brainwashed by the Cult of Canary. She’d probably get involved in a porn video if Canary told her to—obvious age-related issues with that aside.
“Okay, then. I’ll do your makeup on that day!”
“Thanks a lot!”
“Only because Hoshino-san asked me to help out, okay? Make sure you remember that I’m under no obligation to do this at all!”
“I know you say you hate nerd culture, but you’re really playing into it right now.” If that wasn’t an example of tsundere, please tell me what is.
“I dunno what you’re talking about, but I definitely know you’re making fun of me. Are you really grateful, or are you just trying to insult me?!”
“I’m grateful; I’m just not sure how I feel about you getting all tsundere on me.” “If you’re grateful, then you’re not really showing it!”
“You don’t have to show something to feel something.”
“Huh?! What the heck are you talking about?! Like, if you’re in love with someone, you can’t help but show it by letting them do whatever they want, right?!”
“Okay, now that’s just dangerous.”
“Whatever. I’m done listening to your annoying lecture!”
If she kept up that line of thinking, I could see her getting sucked dry financially by some guy in a band or a host or someone. Was this how impulsive people like her thought? I had no clue. “I said I’d do your makeup, so get off my case already!”
“Okay...”
I guess if she did get duped in the future, it was her life. Nothing to do with me. It didn’t matter how weird a cult someone was wrapped up in, if they were happy, maybe there was kindness in letting them be.
“Let’s go, then.”
“Huh?”
“Not ‘huh.’ We’re gonna do your makeup, right?”
“I thought you were just gonna do it on the day?”
“What? This is way more complex than that. I gotta teach you a whole ton of stuff first, to get the best results we can on the day itself.” Sasara angrily sucked up the rest of her bubble tea, then she grabbed the bag she’d put behind her on the chair and stood up. “Would you like to come too, Hoshino-san? I’d be happy to have you.”
“Oh, sorry. I need to get back to the office.”
“Thought so. But I’m super happy you took the time to meet us when you’re so busy! I’ll make it up to you by turning this guy into the most beautiful girl ever!”
“Thank you. I’ll send you back your essay with the edits on it later.”
“Thanks!”
Apparently we were going somewhere. Canary tapped on my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “I’ll leave the rest to you two fledglings. Good luck turning into an adorable chick, chirp!” She gave me a covert wink.
Canary rose to her feet and handed a black credit card to the waitress she summoned. It was a symbol
of extreme wealth, which she waved around completely casually.
“Let’s go then,” Sasara said, impatient.
“Wait. Go where, exactly?”
I didn’t like the fact that she was moving things along without an explanation. You couldn’t let a scenario continue without the users understanding everything, or there’d be a flood of complaints. “Like I said. If we want your makeup to be perfect on the day, we need to lay some groundwork. I gotta teach you, and for that, we need tools.”
“Tools? Uh, you know how they have software to practice karaoke? Is there anything like that to practice using makeup?”
“Nope. Wish there were, then you wouldn’t have to line up for the bathroom. Anyway, stop asking dumb questions. It should be obvious where we’re going.”
“I can’t think of anywhere,” I said, tilting my head and frowning.
“Ugh!” Sasara scowled in annoyance, and started tapping the side of her head. “We’re going to my place!”
“Oh, right.”
Wait.
“What?!”
***
Has a girl ever invited you to her house within a month of meeting her?
It had never happened to me—until now. This was a first for me.
It was an ordinary house in a friendly neighborhood. The front door practically invited you in, and a fresh, unfamiliar scent hit me the moment I was over the threshold.
You know what I’m talking about, right? When you first go to a friend’s house, or your girlfriend’s house—wait, I don’t know about that second one. But yeah, when you go to a new house for the first time, there’s always a unique, indescribable scent.
There wasn’t anyone else at home. Apparently, Sasara’s brother Chatarou had gone to see one of his geeky friends. I guess it’s true what they say, that geeky kids have more friends nowadays. I hurried down the corridor as Sasara led me to a bathroom.
Because I was at a girl’s house, I almost expected it to be super chic. It wasn’t; it was just an ordinary bathroom belonging to an ordinary family. There was a stack of laundry, with underwear that—that I never saw. I didn’t see anything. It was gone from my memory, and now I’m done with this description.
Anyway, this was a regular house. Maybe it was a little on the messier side too. I felt like my apartment was tidier, because I constantly expected visitors.
“Stop staring, you perv!”
“I’m not staring at anything!”
“It’s not like I wanna be teaching you about the basics of skin care right now! It’s only because Hoshino-san asked me to. The second you’ve learned, you can go home. Okay?”
“Okay...”
“Good. Now, we need this, this...and I guess this too. Did I have any of that?” Sasara mumbled to herself, pulling product after product out from the cabinet behind the mirror.
I stared at the neatly packaged items she put out on top of the washer like they were a collection of exotic animals.
“These are...cosmetics?”
“Way to generalize there. You don’t just call a bunch of pens ‘stationery,’ do you?” I mean, she was right.
“So these are all different products?”
“Duh. This is cleanser, and that one’s lotion. Serum, body milk, cream, sunblock, liquid, gel, oil—” “Wait, wait, wait! We’re not gonna use all of these, are we?”
“Of course not.”
“Right. Good, good. I didn’t think so.”
“You don’t use all of these at once. It’s more like you gotta pick the right product out of these for the situation.”
“Sorry, but there’s not much difference between having to pick from all of them and having to use all of them...”
Was she serious? There were more products here than cards in a TCG hand. Was she really saying you had to pick the best card from this hand every single time? Were cosmetics really that intense? “The makeup remover you use depends on your skin condition. You can use cream, lotion, or gel, and there are some for morning use and some for evening use. It’s important to know what to use in what situation. Get it?”
“I get that I don’t get it.”
Sasara sighed, impatient. It was honestly embarrassing to have her reacting like I was an idiot, although this time I had to agree that my lack of knowledge on the subject was frustrating. That’s it. I’m gonna get this down pat no matter what, and then have her eat my dust in the Queen Nevermore contest!
“Gimme your face.”
“We’re doing it here? I didn’t think girls would be okay just doing it over the sink. Like, I thought you’d have a dressing table somewhere or something.”
“Huh?! Are you stupid?!”
Ever heard the theory that anime’s most beloved lines actually hurt when they’re used on you in real life? I think this was proof of that. I wish normies would stop trying to desecrate everything that was holy to us.
“It’s not like you have a dressing table in your house, do you?! You’re just some unsociable nerd with no style!”
“Now you’re stereotyping. Apologize to every unsociable person in the country right now.” “What, so you do have one?”
“No.”
“Then why are you getting all uppity?!”
Well, it wasn’t like I was important enough to represent every last nerd in the country. It was just best to avoid sweeping statements in general. There might be some unsociable nerd out there with their own dressing table at home. Sure, the chances were minuscule, but still.
“Gosh, you’re so argumentative! Just shut up and gimme your face. Come on.”
“Right...”
I didn’t fight back as she grabbed my face. Partly because I wanted things to move along...but also because the sudden sensation of her soft hand on my cheek sent a jolt through my chest. “The first thing to do when you get home is clean your face, so we’re gonna start with this cream cleanser. If you’re not wearing makeup already, there’s no need to use something as strong as oil.” “Can’t you just use water to wash your face?”
“You can, but it’s gonna do nothing to get the sebum off your face, and it’s not gonna repair your UV and pollen-damaged skin either.”
“Sebum... Pollen... Right...”
“The hay fever season’s coming up too. You can’t see it with your eyes, but it’s poison for your skin.” “Seriously? I never knew pollen was so evil— Hyah!”
A sudden sensation caused me to squeal like a loli.
“Don’t make weird noises like that.”
“S-Sorry.”
“Listen up. Before you use any water, you’ll want to get your cleansing product and...” Sasara’s hand ran across my face, leaving cream in its wake. It was cold at first, but as her hand warmed it up, it started to feel pretty good. “Then we’re gonna take this gel...”
“Owowo.”
I made another weird sound—but it didn’t feel bad at all. Sasara smirked, as though she could tell I was enjoying it.
“Well? I bet it feels pretty nice getting this stuff spread all over your face.”
“Y-Yeah. I could get used to it...”
“I can tell you hardly clean your face, ’cause there’s a ton of crap on it. It’s kinda funny actually. But then your skin’s still pretty smooth and soft. You gotta be using some good soap and shampoo. Does your mom buy your products for you?”
“Huh? Uh, I dunno. I buy it myself, but I guess it might be good quality?”
She was way too perceptive, dammit. I mean, my mom didn’t buy my soap, but her guess wasn’t far off. The amenities in my house were always ready for any member of the Alliance to use them if need be. If, after a late party, Sumire or Iroha (and lately, Mashiro too) didn’t have the energy to get home and needed to stay over, they’d have to take a bath at mine. That was why I didn’t buy overly masculine soap or shampoo.
Tomosaka Sasara seemed like a total idiot, which only made her sharpness in this case all the more terrifying.
At some point, the warmth on my face had lulled me into closing my eyes. Seeing that I was on the verge of falling asleep, Sasara burst into laughter.
“You look like you’re really enjoying this! You’re so gross!”
“Don’t you call me gross.”
“Hey, I was complimenting you! I like making people feel good.”
“You do this kinda thing to people a lot?”
“Sometimes I meet up with my followers and teach them about makeup. I get pretty good reviews for it.”
“Yeah. I can see why.”

I was honestly impressed.
The first time we met we’d argued the whole time, and I disagreed with the negative view she had towards Koyagi and nerd culture, but she had real talent—and I loved people with talent. I liked it even more when they were making good use of those talents and getting rewarded for it. It made me feel like society was functioning as it should be.
Sasara shared her love of beauty with her followers because she wanted to make them happy. That love was both genuine and valuable; I could tell by the way her hands moved across my cheeks. She was careful even with me—someone she didn’t like—and purely committed to the dialogue between her and the skin in front of her. A professional of the highest quality, no doubt about it.
Sasara went on to rub various liquids into my face, explaining each cleansing product one at a time. “Listen up. This is what we call a night routine. What you do to take care of your skin when you get home. There’s a morning routine too, and...” Sasara continued, sharing her skin care expertise with me as
she played with my face. “...that’s all about cleaning off the sweat and other dirt that builds up when you sleep. Also, I know I’ve gone through how to repair the damage from UV light and pollen already, but in the morning you’re about to go out, so that’s when you need to do the opposite and prepare some protection against those kinds of things.”
The memory portion of my brain was working hard, but there was also another part that was running at the same time.
“It’s true that skin lotion is the key, but I know some guys who just stop there. You want to use a milky lotion to lock in the moisture and—”
An idea sprang to mind. A devilish plot to borrow Tomosaka Sasara’s skills for Koyagi. Now that we’d reached two million downloads, our next milestone was three million. I’d already failed at targeting the Pinstagram market and appealing to female users. Maybe making use of Sasara’s influence could change that.
Man, this whole thing felt good.
Uh-oh. Her hands felt so good on my face that I was finding it hard to concentrate. I decided to leave the details of the plan for when this skin care lecture was over. My mind made up, I let Sasara take over.
A little over an hour had passed since Sasara had started teaching me about daily skin care. It was getting late, and Sasara led me to her entrance porch to see me off. I bowed my head, then raised my schoolbag. “Thanks for today, and for all the stuff you gave me.”
“It’s no big deal. My fans send me a lotta products like that, so I’ve got more than I need.” “They send you that much, huh? That’s really impressive.”
My team and I had been developing our mobile game for a long time now, but it was rare for anyone to send us anything physical. It was usually things like fan art that I found by searching social media, or messages of support sent to our official accounts.
I wasn’t complaining, of course; I was more than grateful for those things. If our fans were like Sasara’s followers and sent us physical stuff, we might end up like her and not be able to make use of them all, so it wasn’t that I was jealous of her. I was just genuinely impressed.
Sasara’s lips curled and her shoulders started shaking like she was holding in laughter. “Hm? What’s up?”
The next thing I knew, she’d jabbed her finger into my shoulder blade.
“I was just thinking that you’re a pretty nice guy!”
“O-Oh? Where did that come from?”
She was the one who’d invited me round and taken the time to educate me, after all. “Because you’re honest. I mean you straight up praised me. Lucky you! I’m gonna recognize that as one of your good points.”
“That counts as a ‘good point’? I just say what I think. I have done so ever since we met.” “That’s it! That’s great! You’re, like, too amazing at giving compliments! It’s, like, your compliments aren’t superficial. Or, because you’re always ticking me off, it makes your compliments seem even more genuine.”
“I guess that’s because I don’t lie.”
If I faked my own feelings and lied about them, I was bound to be found out at some point. Then I’d have to explain myself and work to repair the relationship, something that would cost time. Considering the future that such inefficient behavior would invite, it was obviously better just not to lie and give my honest opinion in the first place.
There were of course cases where it was necessary to absorb those inefficiencies because I needed to keep a secret. Iroha’s involvement in the Alliance, Sumire’s true identity, Ozu’s past... In these cases, there were just costs that needed to be paid.
Thinking about what other people thought was a waste of time. Apparently that attitude was enough to pull on Sasara’s heartstrings, since she was a validation-seeking monster.
Could this be my chance?
A chance to bring up the idea I had, and invite her to help us out.
“Hey, Tomosaka. While I’m here, do you mind if I ask another favor?”
“Ooh, go on! Ask away!” She giggled.
She must’ve liked people relying on her. I was getting even more worried about some guy with impure intentions taking advantage of her now.
“Hypothetically speaking—and I mean hypothetically—if someone said to you they wanted your help to
advertise their mobile game to female Pinsta users, what would you say?”
“A mobile game? You mean like Tsun Tsun?”
There we had it. The first smartphone app any typical high school girl would think of. It was a game where you had to stack mascot characters from a certain amusement park that was popular with girls. Just mention “mobile game” to a teenage girl and that was the first thing out of their mouth. The game itself was super fun, though, so of course it was popular.
“Not that one. I meant like that game your brother likes: Koyagi: When They Cry.” “Oh, the stuff made for gross nerds?”
I didn’t respond.
“Obviously I wouldn’t promote stuff like that.”
“Right...”
I shouldn’t have expected anything else. Maybe she did like me a little more than before, but our personalities were still oil and water. Sasara still had her same prejudices against nerdy types, so hoping for her help with Koyagi wasn’t exactly realistic.
I hadn’t even thought about what sort of components or projects we could work on for the game to appeal to people like Sasara’s followers. If she advertised the game in its current state on her Pinsta, it probably wouldn’t even attract any new fans.
“Sorry, that was a weird question. Just forget about it.”
“No worries. My family’ll be coming home soon, so you should get going. Make sure you don’t slack on your skin care before the day of the festival!”
“Got it. Thanks.”
With that, I left the Tomosaka house behind.
I’d taken my first step towards becoming a beautiful girl. I’d also come up with a basic plan to advertise Koyagi more widely. It was so satisfying to see so many things proceeding so smoothly and efficiently, and I was in a good mood as I made my way home.
There was something else on my mind too.
Tomosaka Sasara really was a sociable type. She hated me so much, but when she found one good aspect of my personality, suddenly she was all ready to be friends. That friendly nature of hers made her a perfect candidate for Iroha’s best friend.
I had no idea how I was supposed to get them to like each other, considering how prickly their current relationship was, but if Iroha was ever comfortable with being herself around Sasara... I hadn’t just killed two birds with one stone by visiting Sasara’s. I’d catapulted a boulder into three of them.
“I wonder if Iroha’s at my place right now.”
After our fight on the school roof, I wouldn’t be surprised if I didn’t see her at all until the festival. If I did, though, it probably wouldn’t hurt to talk about Sasara a little. The idea made me impatient, and I started to jog so I could get home quicker.
“Hey, Aki. ’Sup.”
“You’re doing Otoi-san now? Why are you so good at acting?”
So yeah, Iroha was waiting for me in my room. She was lying on the bed so limply it was like there wasn’t a bone left in her body, listening to music through her headphones and reading some manga. She was foregoing her usual annoying habit of letting the music boom loudly through the headphones, instead focusing on what she was listening to; something that was very Otoi-san.
“After my declaration today, I didn’t think you’d be here,” I said.
“Am I in your way or somethin’?”
“No, actually, I’m glad you’re here.”
She was still acting like someone else, but for some reason just seeing Iroha here made me feel oddly relieved. I felt like telling her that would annoy her, though, so I held my tongue. “You’re not usually worried about getting in my way. But that’s fine—you can stick around if you want.”
“Hm. Well, this is the only place I can read manga or listen to music.”
“They say it takes three days to regain one day of lost work. It’s good that you’re carrying on as normal.”
Even if normal did mean she was coming into my room when I wasn’t even here... I was just glad that our fight hadn’t completely ruined our relationship, and my shoulders felt oddly light. I loosened my tie. I put my bag down on my chair and opened it up, pulling out the products that Sasara gave me and lining them up on my work desk. I heard a small curious hum from the bed. “What’s that, Aki?”
“I’m glad you asked. I’ve had some lessons on skin care to prepare for my transformation into a beautiful girl. Did you know you need to use different products in the morning and evening?” “Huh. Sounds like y’actually learned somethin’. Not that I care.”
You don’t care?
The nerdy side of me wanted to show off my brand-new knowledge, so I couldn’t help but be disappointed when she showed little interest. Though I knew Otoi-san would definitely show the same lack of interest, so to be honest Iroha was doing a pretty good job.
***
“You’re flirting with yet another girl, Aki?”
“I know what you—you and everyone else—wanna say. But I’ve got no choice if I wanna win that contest... I swear...”