Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
That is a habit I’ve had since I was a
child.\nWhen I don’t know what to do, I ask
for help from Michiyuki.\nI feel a sense of shame that I’m still
relying on a single friend in high school, but the fact is that I’ve been
helped so many times in my life that when I feel like my heart is about to
break, I can’t help but think of Michiyuki’s face.\nWhat on earth have I done to
Inori-chan?\nNo matter how much I thought about it,
I couldn’t come up with an answer to that question.\nIt was midnight.\nThe lights are off in my room, and I’m
lying on my bed, looking up at the ceiling.l\nI’ve been doing this for quite some
time, but Inori-chan’s words keep reverberating in my mind, and I don’t feel
like sleeping.\nI opened my cell phone and called
Michiyuki.\nUsually, calling him at this hour
would be out of the ordinary, but I was sure that Michiyuki would be awake.\nI felt bad about bothering him, but I
still wanted to talk to him now.\nI turned off the camera and hid my
face from him.\nI knew I wasn’t crying, but I know I
looked terrible.\n――.\nThen, after three calls, I heard
Michiyuki’s voice.\n“What’s up? I’m about to go to bed.”\n“Sorry.”\n“…………. The first thing you said,
"I’m sorry. Go ahead, spout off. “\nWhat kind of image do you have of me?\n“Is that so? It’s late, and I usually
apologize.”\n“I’m telling you, that’s not like you.
Don’t you realize you sound like you’re… dying?”\n“Eh … Do I have a voice like that?”\n“You sound like the dog you had in
elementary school that died.”\n“Wow. You remember nostalgic stories
again.\n“That’s right. You’re so rare that
everything you do is memorable. “\n“I see.”\n A few moments.\n“...So what’s the story? I’m not sure
what happened to you.”\nMichiyuki asks with a serious voice.\nI remembered the conversation with
Inori-chan.\nIt’s not like I can explain it in
detail, and I’m not sure what I should say, but the important part remains the
same.\n“… My friend hated me. A friend I
thought I was reasonably close to.”\n“Friends? A friend? Someone I don’t
know?”\n“……Yup”\nI think Michiyuki knew Inori-chan, but
I know that’s not what he was talking about.\n“Hmm. I’m not sure what to say. Can
you tell me more about it?”\n“Well … I guess.”\n“Then I guess I can’t help you make up
with him directly.”\n“I don’t expect that much… I’m not
expecting that much. I just wanted to know when I offend people. I don’t know
myself.”\nI’m sure I’ve made Inori-chan angry,
but in the end, the reason remains unknown.\nI didn’t mean to offend Inori-chan,
but I couldn’t say there was no possibility.\nAnyway, the cause must be me.\n“First of all, stop thinking that the
cause is 100% you.”\n“…”\nThe thing I was thinking about is
rejected, and I trembled.\nMichiyuki has been very sharp for a
long time. But I’m sure he was not as fast as now when he knows my thought.\n“Okay, listen carefully, Kazuto.”\n“……Uh-huh.”\n“You’re an idiot, I don’t need to tell
you that, but you’re even more of an idiot than you think.”\n“Hey!”\nI didn’t call you here to be called
stupid.\n“I’m not calling to rant. I’ll tell
you how stupid you are. You’re so stupid you don’t know how to look good. “\n“I know.”\n“No, you don’t. You’re never vain. You
can't put airs. You never hide who you are to be liked, except in a funny way.
Or rather, you can’t. Because you’re an idiot.”\n“…”\n“In short, you already gave the other
person your best image. Usually, you want to look more or less cool, but you’re
exposing yourself from the first meeting.”\n『要するにお前は、第一印象から相手に、お前の中のド底辺イメージを与えてんのさ。普通なら多かれ少なかれカッコよく見せたがるけど、お前は初対面からダッサイ自分を晒してんの』\n“… So what?”\nI can’t see what you’re trying to say.\n“Don’t you know yet? You showed me
that kind of thing at the beginning, but you’re still a friend of mine, right?”\nA stunning voice.\n“You can’t expect such a person to
hate you just because of your unconscious behavior. It’s a great way to make
sure you’re getting the most out of your time with us.”\n――――.\n“Okay, Kazuto.”\n“……Yup”\n“Don’t doubt yourself. You are not
complex enough to be hated without being aware of it. If they hate you, it will
be after you have done something wrong. Can you think of anything?”\n“No..”\n“If so, don’t worry, you’re not bad.
There is always another cause. “\n“Okay.”\n“So suspect something else first.
Something happened around your friend, didn’t it? Isn’t there a reason why he
should hate you? –Do they hate you in the first place? You know, …….”\n“Yes”\n“Talk to her first. You’ll be able to
find the cause of the problem outside of yourself. They may be looking for help
from you. I don’t know.”\n“……Got it.”\nSpeaking of which, what Michiyuki says
is just a word that encourages escapism.\nBut somehow, I felt that I get a new
focus.\nI don’t know if it’s the right path,
but it’s better than standing still.\nI could hear Michiyuki sighing.\nThat is Michiyuki’s habit after he
finishes what he wants to say.\n“Yes, it’s over, it’s over. The
question was too abstract for me to say anything more. Can I sleep now?”\n“Yeah, thank you…You helped me.”\n“That was good. Good luck! “\n“Of course …. Good night.”\n“Okay. Bye.”\nAnd I closed my cell phone.\nThe mechanical light died out. And my
room was once again is enveloped in darkness.\nBut this time, unlike before, there
was starlight shining through.\n☆ 彡 ☆ 彡 ☆ 彡 ☆ 彡\nLooking at the sunlight coming in
through the window, I realize that it’s dawn.\nEven though I had been groaning in my
sleep ever since I hid in my bed, it seemed that I had easily let go of my
consciousness after consulting with Michiyuki.\nI woke up, picked up my cell phone, and
opened Qtube.\nThe search is for Inori-chan’s stream.\nAfter the phone call with Michiyuki, I
had decided that if I found Inori-chan streaming, I would attack her
mercilessly as Kanae.\nI hadn’t been able to take the plunge
because of my fears that it was a common sense thing to do, or that it might
make our relationship worsen, but thanks to Michiyuki, I was ready.\nEven if I have to force myself to meet
her, I will talk to her.\nAs long as I appear as Kanae in the
stream, it won’t be a big problem for the viewers.\n“Inori-chan...”\nSleeping once made me feel much
better.\nI believe we can make up for this, and
I have the energy to move forward.\nAfter confirming that Inori-chan
wasn’t streaming, I searched around the virtual world based on social media and
what other streamers had said.\nI looked up every possible hint I
could find, whether it was a sighting in LoS or a mention in another game.\nI feel like I’m half-stalking her. But
for now, I’m not hesitating to run around the digital world.\n But.\n“… I can’t find anything at all……. Is
it possible that she’s not even logged in?”\nI couldn’t find any valuable
information.\nTime flew away.\nNow, I’m walking around LoS with the
account of “Kazuto”.\nI want to switch to Kanae as soon as I
got some information on Inori-chan, but I figured I shouldn’t stand out while
searching.\nI thought it would be most efficient
to open a Qtube or Twiter window and get the information on my feet as well.\nAnd finally, when it was around noon.\n“……Email?”\nI received an incoming call.\nIt wasn’t an in-game chat, but a real
one.\nWhen I looked at it, I saw that the
sender’s name was “Hoshikuzu Houki”, and the subject line read “Immediately
Open”.\nWondering what the hell was going on,
I followed the instructions and opened the mail.\nThe contents are simple, only the word
“here” and the location information showing the corner of the city of LoS.\nIt was deep in an alleyway that I
would never have had the chance to go to if I were just playing the game.\nI’ve never even asked about it because
there’s nothing to do there.\nI was a little suspicious. But since
there was no other place I wanted to go, I decided to go there anyway.\nEven if it had nothing to do with
Inori-chan, Houki-kun had told me to go. I'm sure I should go.\nLooking at the map attached to the
email, I ran off.\nSometime later.\n“...I wonder if it’s here. It’s dim.”\nThe closer I got to the indicated
point, the more the atmosphere changed into a gloomy one.\nThere was hardly any people’s insight,
and the light coming from the sky was insufficient, making me feel like I was
walking through an abandoned building.\nThe occasional store didn’t active,
and the NPCs inside looked bored as they stared at the sky.\nSuddenly, I noticed a pair of people
walking in front of me.\nThey are a large man and a small man.\n“...?”\nIt wasn’t strange in itself, but I was
a little concerned by the fact that they seemed to be wobbling in their steps.\nTheir faces had turned red, and they
looked like drunks.\nThe technology that allows you to get
drunk in the virtual world reminds me of Houki-kun’s experiment. It’s hard to
imagine that such a technology, which was just recently completed, has already
been introduced to LoS.\nI guessed that the “drink that tastes
like liquor” itself had existed for a long time, so I was probably making
assumptions or getting drunk in the atmosphere.\nI ran past them.\n“...The smell of sake. I don’t know if
it ever smelled so real.”\nI felt a sense of discomfort at the
smell that drifted past me as I passed them, but I decided not to worry about
it for now and hurried on.\nAs I walked further and further into
the landscape, which was becoming more and more apocalyptic, I arrived at the
building that Houki-kun had shown me.\nIt was a relatively good building for
this area, but it was far from fashionable, and it looked like a deserted cafe.\nNo, that’s not what we should be
worried about.\nI don’t care what the store looks like
is.\nMore importantly.\n“Inori-chan … and Zero Live representative
Ibuki-chan… Why are they in such a place?”\nI finally found Inori-chan.