When you go back to the starter town with the full party, new stuff tends to happen

It was the first day of summer vacation—although the break wasn't going to

be much of a break for me.

"Typical. You showed up in a ridiculous outfit."

It was eleven in the morning, and as soon as I arrived at the standard

meetup spot by the Bean Tree sculpture in Omiya Station, I was in trouble.

Naturally, only one person would be so critical and yet so matter-of-fact.

Aoi Hinami, the perfect heroine of our school and my teacher in life.

"B-be quiet."

"Pfft. So you know how bad you look?" she said in an extremely haughty

tone, crossing her arms.

"Uhhh…"

What with Mimimi's student council campaign and our lack of

communication after that, I hadn't heard much of Hinami's sharp tongue in

the recent lead-up to vacation. Once I got over being offended, however, I

realized the old Hinami was back in full force. Her unyielding willingness to

shred my self-confidence made me feel like we'd never been apart.

"Is that supposed to be your attempt at improvement?"

"I—I guess so…"

Completely defeated, I glanced down at my outfit. It wasn't the one I'd

bought off the mannequin with her. I was wearing a well-worn T-shirt with

some mysterious English phrase on it over a pair of knee-length jean shorts

I'd gotten in junior high. In other words, stuff I'd gotten ages ago with my

parents at a cheap department store. At least my shoes were the ones I'd

gotten recently as part of that other outfit.

"Well, I certainly can't see any sign of it."

"I did think about this outfit…"

If you're wondering why I didn't just wear the mannequin outfit, that's

because it had long sleeves and long pants, so it was too hot for summer.

"Sheesh. It looks like I'm going to have to give you a special assignment

for this…"

Ignoring my excuse, she rested her thumb on her lips, deep in thought.

The instant a new problem arose, she started to work on a solution. Her usual

Spartan approach was in high gear—for Hinami, summer vacation wasn't a

vacation. Of course, the root of the problem was my horrible fashion sense,

but I'd rather not dwell on that.

"No, I mean, those clothes we bought before are way too hot…so I didn't

think I should wear them."

I wasn't confident, but I told her what I was thinking anyway. I might

have gotten away with the pants, but a long-sleeve shirt was out of the

question. I figured she'd be even angrier if I wore that, so I went with this

instead. Guess I should have at least worn the pants. I had to admit that

compared to the mannequin outfit, this was straight out of junior high. Even I

could tell I looked awkward. After she'd said something anyway.

"True. If you'd worn that outfit, that would have been even worse. But

that doesn't make this one okay," she deadpanned without a trace of polite

restraint. Although she wasn't completely deadpan—I glimpsed a faintly

sadistic smile as she made her blunt point. This was why I couldn't let my

guard down with her. Everything about her self-presentation was beyond

perfect, yet her sadistic side would rear its head at the most random-seeming

times.

"Still the same Hinami…"

"Let me guess. Your sewing kit in elementary school had a dragon design

on it, right?"

My heart skipped a beat. I remembered we'd gotten to choose from a

bunch of different options, and sure enough, I'd chosen the dragon on a black

background. I'd picked it because it was cool. I mean, come on. It was a

dragon.

"Why…? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Nerdy types instinctively tend to choose that one. We have to start by

getting rid of that instinct. It's not cool."

"Nerdy types…"

For one brief, foolish second, I took comfort in the thought that the old

Hinami was back, and that was my first mistake. If she kept hitting the nail

on the head over and over, I'd be reduced to a blubbering mess.

"Well, let's not worry about that for the moment. I called you here to talk

about something more important."

"Let's not worry about the fact that you just shredded my selfconfidence?"

Hinami ignored my weak attempt at a comeback and kept talking. Yeah,

same old Hinami. "So far, you've been out with me a number of times,

you've been drawn into normie circles, and you spent a lot of one-on-one

time with Mimimi. You've stocked up a lot of EXP, but you still don't know

how to act on a date, do you?"

"Um, well…" I mean, I'd never been on a date, so…

"Pretty soon, that's going to become necessary, right? General date

training, I mean."

"Pretty soon? Uh, I'm not planning on it…"

Hinami sighed with exasperation. Yes, this was familiar. "Listen. What's

the minor goal you're currently supposed to be aiming for? Or did you

forget?"

"…Oh right." Belatedly, I remembered. We'd been over it a million

times. "I'm supposed to go out alone with a girl other than you…right?"

Hinami nodded tiredly. "In other words…," she prompted.

"…Date training is extremely necessary."

Grinning, Hinami pointed at me in a grown-up way. "Hexactly."

There it was. So we were back to the daily grind of training.

"Okay, okay," I said, nodding slightly. "You're right."

And that's how my summer vacation quickly became more work, thanks

to my dependably Spartan teacher. I guess NO NAME, with her terrifyingly

efficient use of time, was making her presence known. Well, once things got

to this point, my only option was to dive in.

"Okay, then. Let's get some lunch and go over the details," she said, as if

that was the obvious next step.

"Let me guess, you want something with che— Ow!"

She kicked me midsentence.

"…Ah, so good!"

Hinami smiled, clearly in a good mood thanks to her pasta at the

Western-style restaurant in a shopping arcade outside the east exit of Omiya

Station. She'd ordered the gorgonzola cream sauce. My hamburger lunch set

was damn good, too.

"So what does this general date training entail exactly?" I asked.

Hinami paused her blissful chewing and swallowed the bite of pasta.

"Today we'll go to a bunch of stores, and I'll give you assignments in each

one."

"Uh, what kind of assignments…?"

"Well…"

She took another bite of pasta. Her smile was a little more restrained this

time, maybe because she realized I was watching her. Too late.

She swallowed. "Simply put, we're going to rehearse for a date. I'll tell

you all the places I want to go, and based on that, I want you to lead me

around like you planned everything yourself."

Like I'd planned it myself?

"Um, so basically, I'll fake it?"

"Right. Even if you're just acting, I want you to practice taking the lead

on a date. Just one round of practice can make a huge difference."

"Just acting…"

"Based on the information I'm about to give you, I want you to say

things like, Hey, mind if we stop in here? or whatever. You're going to pull

me along."

Ah. So that's what she meant. The idea made me a little nervous, but if I

was just acting, I could do it. That feeling was probably a sign of

overconfidence.

"Okay…got it."

"Great. This is what I had in mind."

Hinami did something on her phone, and mine buzzed. She'd sent me the

names of three stores and their websites on LINE.

"Uh, this is where we're going today?"

"Right." Somehow, she was easy to understand even with a mouthful of

pasta.

Hey, wait, why're we going here? "I mean, the first and third ones make

sense…a clothing store and Starbucks, right?"

"Yeah. First, we'll go take care of that dorky outfit; then we'll go to

Starbucks, and I'll give you another assignment."

"Oh…"

"Another assignment"—she'd said it so casually. Shuddering, I stared at

my phone. The first thing on the list was the name Lazy Blue and a link. I

tapped it, and the website of a clothing store near Omiya's west exit popped

up. So we were going shopping there. The third item on the list simply said

Starbucks. But as I read the second item, I frowned.

"Um…why are we going to Big Camera?"

The list specified it was the Big Camera in the SOGO building at the

Omiya west exit, along with the Web address.

"They have a demo setup," she said grumpily.

"…And?"

Hinami glared at me before repeating the words very clearly.

"I said, a demo setup. Don't you want to play live sometimes, not just

online? Without the lag? They have Atafami ."

"Oh, okay, really? You sure do—"

I stopped midsentence. Maybe because she was mad, her cheeks were a

little flushed. She always got really emotional when Atafami came up. In

which case, I'd better not make a big deal over it. Let sleeping dogs lie. But

man, she sure loves Atafami .

"What?" She was glaring at me.

"N-nothing. Never mind."

She glanced down for a second, like she was thinking, before smiling

teasingly at me.

"…What?"

"You didn't notice?"

"Huh?"

She pointed at my face in a vaguely cruel way. "Last time we went to a

clothing store you were super nervous, but this time you didn't even flinch at

the idea. You sure must be relaxed if you have time to worry about going to

Big Camera."

"Oh…" I saw her point. Now that she mentioned it, I realized I wasn't

even scared.

"Well? All those long conversations with Mimimi and Yuzu and

Mizusawa and other normies got you a ton of EXP, didn't it?"

I stared at my palms. The result of my EXP must be…

"I guess…I leveled up."

As I searched for the right words, Hinami nodded in satisfaction. "Do

you remember? When you first started training with me, I said it was

important for you to be able to do things on instinct, right?"

"…Yeah, I guess you did."

"In light of that, what do you think about the current situation?"

My terror of clothing shops had faded, and I hadn't even noticed. "Umm,

I'm not sure how to put it…" I looked away from Hinami. "Okay~. You got a

point."

Avoiding a direct answer out of shyness, I copied Izumi's "Okay."

Hinami looked into my eyes gravely, then broke into a grin. "Nicely

done." Her smile was kind, with a grown-up warmth. Like an older sister

grinning girlishly. The contradiction caught me off guard; I wish she'd take it

easy with the surprise attacks.

"Oh, um, thanks."

I was totally embarrassed by that charming expression. She watched my

reaction, looking satisfied. Wait a second… Is this her revenge for my

comment about Big Camera?

After we finished eating, the conversation shifted to bigger goals.

"Before we start on today's assignment, I'd like to decide what you'll be

doing over summer vacation."

"Like the whole break?"

"Yes," she said, looking serious. "If you work hard over the summer, you

can really pull ahead of everyone else."

"You sound like a college prep teacher," I commented, then waited for

her next words.

"We'll set some goals before the first day is over."

"Goals, huh?"

That sounded about right, given Hinami's usual approach.

"Yes. Your current minor goal is to go out alone with a girl other than

me. From there, we'll set some other goals for you to achieve by the end of

August."

"That's a little over a month from now…"

We had just over one month for summer vacation, and I had a sneaking

suspicion it was about to be stuffed with assignments from Hinami.

"Given your current status and thinking realistically…"

"…Yeah?"

I nodded. Realistically, huh?

She may get sadistic at key moments, but when it came to the allimportant assignments, she never asked me to do things that were beyond my

abilities at that particular moment, as long as I exerted a little effort. It was

always things like talking to a girl or asking someone to connect on LINE. I

guess the point of the mini-assignments was partly to give me little successes

and keep my motivation up, so there wouldn't be any point in making them

impossible.

Just as I thought I was starting to understand her logic, however, she

blew all my reasoning away.

"Your goal for the summer is to date Kikuchi-san."

For a moment, there was silence.

"What?!" I screeched, and Hinami glanced around. I felt like we'd done

this before at a different restaurant.

"…Keep your voice down. Didn't you understand what I said?"

"I-it's not that…"

Flustered, I met her gaze. As usual, she was smiling sadistically.

"Okay, I'll say it again in simple terms. I want you, Tomozaki-kun, and

Fuka Kikuchi-chan to become boyfriend and girlfriend this—"

"You don't have to spell it out…!!" I managed to keep my voice down,

but my emotions were exploding. "Where do you get off calling that

realistic…?!"

Hinami pouted and made a deliberately innocent face. "Where? Well,

let's see. You already like her, and you're both into those Andi books, and

you've already agreed to go see that movie together sometime. You have a

whole month of summer vacation ahead of you. You'll have tons of chances

to ask her out to do more stuff. And you're telling me it's not realistic to go

from there to dating?"

"No, it's just…"

I might not agree with some of the details, but when she laid it all out

objectively like that and gave me that no-excuses stare, I couldn't help

admitting she was right. S-so this is what it feels like to be brainwashed.

"It's just…we haven't even exchanged contact info yet…"

"You mean this?" She shoved her phone in my face. Fuka Kikuchi's LINE page was displayed on the screen.

"U-uh, yeah…"

I should have guessed she was connected to everyone in our class on

LINE. She snorted triumphantly. Honestly, though, wasn't she ignoring the

feelings of the two people most directly involved?

"Anyway, your first assignment is to make a date with Fuka-chan to see

that movie and go from there. I want you to develop your relationship until

you're ready to be a couple. That's it."

"That's it? Sounds like more than enough to me."

Even as I said those words, I felt like I was dissociating a little, like my

brain was running away from the situation. A second later, I realized

something else.

"Wait a second. Did you just say, 'your first assignment'?"

Hinami giggled fearlessly. "You're getting sharper, I see. As you

guessed, you're going to be flooded with assignments this summer."

"Flooded…?"

I pressed one hand against my forehead, but I'd half given in already.

This was going to be a summer of intensive training. Summer school from

hell.

"As for the other assignments, well…" Hinami rested her pointer finger

gently on her lips. "I'll just say plans for an overnight trip are in the works."

"An overnight trip?!"

"Keep your voice down." She poked my cheek crossly.

"Ouch!"

"The overnight trip would be a real godsend, but I'm still setting it up.

Whether a total loser like you will be accepted in the group all depends on

me. But believe me, I'm up to the challenge."

Hinami cracked her knuckles. Why does this stuff mean so much to you?

Then again, if she put her mind to it, I was sure she'd be able to get me in

somehow. I might as well consider this plan a done deal. But…

"Wh-who else is going…?" I asked timidly.

Hinami tilted her head, but I'm pretty sure she was faking. "Huh?"

That was all she said. Her playful smile and sadistically glittering eyes

made me think she was planning to spring it all on me once everything was

decided, just to mess with me. In which case, any questions now were

basically a waste of time. I resigned myself to accepting whatever happened.

"I-I'll start preparing myself mentally for this…"

"Good idea," she said, nodding with satisfaction. "Aside from that, I have

some other ideas…"

"More?" I instinctively shrank away from her.

"But I suppose I'll have to wait and see how you're doing at the end of

our date today."

"Da—?!"

"Excuse me, check please!" she brightly called to the waiter, cutting off

my expression of surprise.

"Yes, ma'am!"

In the moment before the waiter came over to our table, she threw me a

glance that was as predictably sadistic and wicked as ever.

I'll be damned if I let this kind of thing get to me. I mean it.

* * *

We left the restaurant.

"That was so good!"

Was the date rehearsal starting now? For some reason, as soon as we

stepped outside, she switched from the practical perfectionist I knew so well

to the perfect heroine of our school.

"Uh, yeah." I just decided to go along with it.

She smiled brightly as we walked along side by side. "Where to next?"

She locked her hands behind her back, leaned forward, and looked up at my

face. What's with the girlish pose?

I suspected I'd be in trouble if I looked straight at her, so I shifted my

gaze away. "Um, Hinami?"

Even though I was nervous about the weird situation, I finally managed

to say something. It's rehearsal, just a rehearsal.

"Yesss?"

My nerves ramped up a gear at her fake-teasing tone.

Uh…what do I say now?

She elbowed me as if to say Come on, what? as I hesitated.

"N-nothing." I fired myself up again. "There's somewhere I want to go if

it's okay with you."

"Sure, where?"

I suppressed the urge to say, You're the one who decided in the first

place!

"A clothing store by the west exit."

"Oh, cool! Is it in the Arche building?"

"Y-yeah, there!"

That was definitely part of the address listed on the website she'd sent

me. Was this a test to make sure I'd actually looked at the address?

"Okay, awesome!" She nodded enthusiastically, then gazed at me

without moving.

…Um?

I waited for a minute to see what she would do, then belatedly realized

what she was up to. Oh right. I was supposed to take the lead today. O-okay,

here goes. Switching roles with Hinami felt weird, but I managed to open my

mouth.

"Okay, then…let's head over there."

I started walking. She nodded girlishly and sidled up right next to me

with fast, short steps. Oh shit, she almost brushed against me just now.

"Uh, we're here."

Using my phone to navigate, I'd led Hinami around to the classy-looking

Arche building at the west exit of Omiya Station. It was weird how different

everything looked when I was heading toward our destination myself instead

of following someone else. If we got lost, it would be my fault. I was

conscious of how my own decisions affected our progress and all the

responsibility that entailed.

I'd felt a sense of responsibility when we went to buy a present for

Nakamura and Hinami gave me the assignment of pushing through some of

my own proposals, but this was a magnified version of that. Her assignments

were definitely getting harder.

"Looks like they have a lot of cool stuff here."

She looked around, pretending to be entertained by it all. The narrow

passageway was lined with women's clothing stores and packed with young

people. About eight out of ten were female. Huh? Did I come to the wrong

place? I anxiously checked the map again, but it definitely looked like the

store was on the fifth floor of this building.

"U-uh, yeah. Um, the place I want to go is on the fifth floor."

"Okay! Are there stairs or something?"

She stared around with fake helplessness. I was ready to bet she knew

where the escalators and elevators were. Okay, okay, I get it—I'm supposed

to take the lead once again.

"…Um, over here?"

I made a guess and started walking with Hinami at my heels. I wasn't

sure I was going in the right direction, but since there was pretty much just

the one passageway, it thankfully brought me to an escalator.

"Whew." Sighing with relief, I stepped onto the escalator. It was

surprisingly exhausting to take the lead, even if all I had to do was find an

escalator. Should I try to make conversation now? As I was mulling this over,

Hinami nodded and looked up at my face.

"You sure are on top of things, Tomozaki-kun!" she said energetically. I

was a little startled by her praise. Oh geez, she really did have me in the palm

of her hand.

* * *

Glancing at the mirror next to the narrow escalator, I caught sight of my sorry

self.

"All right." Hinami had dropped the heroine act and was speaking

normally again; I was probably in for another explanation. "You still only

know how to buy the whole mannequin, right? That's fine if you just want to

camouflage your outermost shell, but as we've seen today, when people

without taste buy their own clothes, the results can be tragic," she

deadpanned, sweeping her hand to indicate my reflection in the mirror.

"Was it really necessary to call me tragic?" I wiped a bead of sweat off

my cheek, which was freezing thanks to the air-conditioning in the building,

and mustered up my scrawny pride. Give me back the other Hinami already!

"Well, tell me what you think when you look in the mirror."

The guy in the mirror had a proper hairdo, a natural smile, tamed

eyebrows, and a straight back. Compared to the old me, he wasn't quite such

a freak, but I had to admit he looked fairly nerdy. And that it was the fault of

a pretty uncool outfit.

"You can sense it yourself, can't you? That something is off?"

"I—I guess…" Although I couldn't put into words what that "something"

was, I could see the nerdiness.

"At the very least, you need to buy clothes for every season."

"For every season?" I muttered, thinking about the contents of my wallet.

"Being a normie is tough, isn't it…?"

Maybe Hinami guessed my line of thinking, because her next words were

somewhat reassuring.

"Not that you have to buy the whole mannequin each time."

"Really?"

As a spark of hope lit up my eyes, Hinami glanced toward the top of the

escalator.

"Basically, as long as you go shopping with someone who has good taste,

all you need to do is buy a simple top to go with the bottom we bought

before. Maybe just a T-shirt."

"Bottom?"

I had a feeling she meant something other than what I was picturing.

"Before you make any snarky comments, I'm referring to the pants," she

said with a bit of disgust.

Uh, so…apparently bottom is a word some normies will use for pants. I

guess? While I was internally wincing at that, I noticed Hinami's smile

becoming increasingly sadistic.

She paused for a moment before seeming to realize she needed to add

something.

"Although given how patently nerdy your current outfit is, you need to be

a lot more careful. What do you think the people in the store will think when

they see you?"

"C-come on, I was just starting to build up a little self-confidence!"

As I looked down once again at my outfit, the familiar dread of clothing

stores welled up inside me. Yup. Terrifying.

The fear must have made me clumsy, because I almost stumbled as I

stepped off the elevator.

"That's why I'm going to do you a special favor today…and choose your

clothes for you."

Once again, I was caught off guard by her little head tilt. It was so cute it

pissed me off. No fair switching back to heroine mode all of a sudden.

"Oh…okay." Taking the lead again, I made my way to the clothing store.

The place even smelled fashionable somehow.

"Hmm, what would look good on you? Hey, why don't you pick

something out, too?"

With that, she chose two tops and I chose one, so I ended up buying three

new T-shirts. According to heroine-mode Hinami, "I picked out two that will

go with the pants you already have! This way you don't need to buy a new

bottom! The one you chose isn't half-bad, either!"

Why does she insist on calling it a bottom…? Why is that word

necessary? I think I'm just gonna stick with pants.

* * *

We left the store, new T-shirts in hand. As I sadly inspected my lightened

wallet, Hinami rested her finger gently on her lips and started to think about

something. Her eyes were on the bag hanging from my shoulder.

"…What?"

"Nothing. I was just thinking you should probably take this," she said,

still in heroine mode, as she pulled a folded-up black backpack out of her

own. It was simple and undecorated, the kind of thing I'd imagine university

students carrying around. It looked unisex as well.

"Huh?"

"You don't have a nice backpack, do you?"

She held it out to me. I wasn't sure what to do, but I took it.

"You don't mind lending it to me?"

"Just consider it a present, okay?"

That caught me by surprise "No, no way! I mean…you've already given

me too many things. First, you gave me those masks, and I still have your

voice recorder…"

"Well, that's true," she said, glancing at the backpack. "But look at this.

It got stuck on something sharp and tore a little, see?"

I took a closer look. Like she said, the fabric in the upper left corner was

torn and fraying.

"But that's barely…"

"It bothers me !" she snapped. Well, it wouldn't bother me, but I guess

even a little tear was unforgivable for a perfect heroine.

"But…"

When I hesitated, Hinami made a proposal. "There's an accessory store

near here with something I've been wanting for a while. Why don't you buy

it for me? Then we can just trade!"

Her eyes were sparkling. She seemed so nice—on the surface, that is.

It really was a good idea, though. I'd feel much better giving her

something in return. But what could she possibly want? Cheese and video

games were the only things I knew she liked. Wonder what it was?

"Okay, I'm in. Let's go."

Partly out of curiosity, I went along with Hinami to another building near

the west exit of Omiya Station.

* * *

"Here it is!" Hinami said excitedly, still keeping up the heroine act.

We were in a busy shop that sold all sorts of stuff, from clothes and hats

to rings and cell phone covers. Hinami had picked up a largish tin button.

"Oh, okay."

"It's so summery. I love it!" She smiled sweetly.

I followed her gaze to the button she wanted. It was a nice picture of

colorful fireworks against a black background. I was surprised she went for

it, though. Sure, it was bright and pretty, but…what did she like so much

about it?

She picked it up daintily.

"You like that stuff?" I asked bluntly.

Hinami seemed briefly unsure. "I wouldn't normally buy stuff without a

reason, but…this just struck me."

I made a noncommittal sound in response to this uncharacteristic

vagueness. So even she wanted things sometimes without a good reason. Or

was this all part of the act?

I looked over the other pins for sale. There were Japanese flags; popular

anime characters; rice balls, fried eggs, and other kinds of food; animals like

frogs and scorpions—you name it. Basically, there were tons of choices, all

for only a couple hundred yen or so. From among all this, she wanted that

bright one with fireworks on it? I didn't get it.

In the passageway, a guy and girl who seemed to be on a date were

looking at stuff together. They made me feel self-conscious about heroinemode Hinami's girlish behavior. W-we're not on a date, okay?! This is just a

dress rehearsal!

"So this is what you want to trade for?"

I was getting a little worked up, almost shy, even though there was really

nothing going on between us. Hiding it as best I could, I took the pin from

Hinami.

"Yeah! Is that all right with you?"

I looked at the price tag. It was four hundred yen plus tax. Not good.

"It's…uh…I mean, I feel like it's not fair for me to be getting that bag

for just four hundred yen…"

"Sheesh! I said I want it; that should be enough!" She playfully grabbed

my arm with both hands and pressed it against my chest, pin and all. Then

she pushed me from behind and steered me over to the register.

"O-okay, okay."

"Thank you!"

Her pushy, almost businesslike behavior made me wonder. Sure, maybe

she really did want that pin, but it was more likely that she was creating a

"fair trade" just to erase my guilt over getting something for free. Then I

could take the backpack without reservations and not feel indebted to her in

the future. And if that was the case, then—wow. She wasn't being selfserving or pushy. That was genuine thoughtfulness.

Maybe this ability to consider other people's feelings was the key factor

that kept her at the top of our high school's cast of characters as the perfect

heroine. At least, that was the vague sense I had.

I let her push me to the register, where I paid for the pin and…would it

be right to say I gave it to Hinami as a present? No, this was a trade. Anyway,

that was how I ended up trading Hinami a fireworks pin for her black

backpack.

"Um, thanks."

"No worries. I'm going to take good care of it!" she chirped before

tucking the pin into her bag with a gentle, happy smile. It hit me right in the

feels. Man, she was a good actress.

* * *

I was standing in front of an Atafami game console. Our two ninja characters

were on the screen.

Hinami and I were at the console in Big Camera, where I'd led us,

playing for the first to win three games with a stock of three. I'd already won

two games, which meant it would be a shutout for me if I won this game.

Hinami and I both had one stock left.

Heroine mode had vanished. She was pure NO NAME now, her

determination on full display.

"It's not over yet…!" she muttered fervently as she performed a closeedge recovery. Even though she was worked up, the move was extremely

well planned, and even I failed at blocking her.

"Nice…!!"

I was secretly surprised. Both Hinami and I were playing with the ninja

character Found. As usual, her playstyle was to copy and defend against my

own. Nothing had changed, except for one thing.

Hinami was improving way faster than I expected.

Each move was precise, she knew how to play the mental game, and

every risk was well calculated. She had a wide variety of offensive patterns at

her disposal and flexible defensive patterns. On top of that, her already

superhuman ability to escape combos had somehow gotten even better. I

couldn't believe she'd improved this much in the space of the mere week or

two we hadn't played while everything was happening with Mimimi.

From mid-distance, Hinami pretended she was about to launch a

projectile, canceled into a block, then canceled again into a wavedash that

took her skimming along the ground. From there, she dashed at me. Her

ulterior motive was probably to use the projectile to lure me into blocking,

which would give her enough time to reach me with her insane technique and

punch me at close range.

"…Ha-ha."

I couldn't help laughing.

I've played a lot of people in my day; I know that some of them figured

if they put in X amount more effort, they could get within range of beating

me, and that spurred them to work harder. But even after putting in the work,

they'd never been able to beat me. That was because I'd been working harder

than them in the meantime and gained more ground. I was starting out in

first, and I improved faster than anyone else—that's how I kept my position

as the best player in Japan. And that hadn't changed. But Hinami—Hinami

was different.

For these past few weeks, probably the past couple of months or so,

maybe even since she started playing, she'd been improving at a slightly

faster rate than me.

That was why I had to laugh. It had never happened to me before, and it

made me weirdly happy. It was exciting to know someone else out there

oved Atafami as much as I did and was working just as hard. I wasn't alone.

When that thought hit me all over again, I couldn't help smiling.

Just playing her made it obvious what she'd been doing with her time

lately.

For Hinami and me, Atafami was the ideal form of communication.

That's exactly why I was determined not to let up—why I couldn't let up.

Aiming to neutralize her strategy, I wavedashed out of my block—but I

didn't slide across the ground. In other words, I did a wavedash out of shield

to take advantage of the invincibility frames, and from there, in a single

flowing movement, I entered the command for my Attack. My Found

character wrapped his right arm around his own neck. Hinami's character ran

toward him. Come and get it.

This Attack is where the name Attack Families comes from. It's a special

blow that can damage your opponent in proportion to the amount of start-up

lag or ending lag in their Attack, thus increasing the knockback. It can be a

game-winning counter to use when your opponent is seriously unguarded, but

that's not all. Charging it up and timing it to finish off a combo is also one of

Found's distinctive moves. I used that to intercept Hinami's blow.

But I had miscalculated.

I'm not sure if she'd seen me charging the Attack or whether it was pure

instinct. In this case, her reaction was so instantaneous it seemed more

realistic to attribute it to nonrational instinct than to superhuman reflexes.

Either way, Hinami switched her path of action.

She canceled her blow, blocked my Attack at super-close range, and

landed a blow during my Attack's ending animation. Then she moved into a

decisive combo, the ideal, stable strategy that gave her an overwhelming

advantage.

…I lied. That's not what she did.

Instead, she canceled her dash with a wavedash and wrapped her right

arm around her neck. She was trying to launch an Attack head-on without

charging before I had a chance to launch mine after charging. It was a crazy,

ambitious, extremely confident move.

"…Shit!"

I realized what she was up to a second before it was too late and released

my Attack. My backhanded blow crossed paths with Hinami's. And then…

"Yeah! Bam!"

"Damn!!"

My blow crashed into Hinami an instant before hers reached me. Her

Found character soared off the stage.

In the end, I won the game with two stocks left, and the three-game

match ended in a straight-set win for me.

* * *

Hinami and I were in Starbucks.

"I-if I tap here…"

"She gets added to your contact list!"

"Uh, and a notification gets sent right away…"

"What? Of course! Obviously."

"O-oh, okay…"

I was facing the screen to add Fuka Kikuchi as a friend on LINE, locked

in an internal struggle. Hinami was back in heroine mode, but ever since

losing at Atafami , she'd been slightly grumpy.

As soon as I sat down at Starbucks, my phone had vibrated with a

message from her containing Kikuchi-san's LINE ID. All I had to do was

touch the ADD button. Impressive technology. Still, several minutes had

passed by without me doing anything.

"But if I add her out of the blue, won't she be confused?"

I mean, if I added her, she'd all of a sudden get a message saying,

[Fumiya Tomozaki added you as a friend ], right? This was me we were

talking about; the thought made my stomach turn.

"The heck are you talking about? That's not an issue." Hinami grinned.

"Huh?"

She was talking a little more roughly than usual, and I wasn't sure what

she meant.

"I mean, I already told her you wanted to add her on LINE and asked if it

would be okay!"

"Hey…!" I caught myself just before my voice rose above a Starbucksappropriate volume.

"Wow, Tomozaki. You've learned how to keep your voice down when

you're surprised. You're really improving."

"Th-that's not the kind of improvement I need…"

The tiny hit of sarcasm from heroine-mode Hinami stung ten times more

than usual.

"The point is, you've got some nerve asking her without my

permission…"

"But it would have been wrong to give you her ID without asking first, so

I would have had to ask her anyway…and I thought it would be better to just

go ahead and do it…" Heroine Hinami cast her eyes down sadly. I almost

apologized for making her sad, but the little quirk of her lips gave her away.

She just wanted to mess with me. I'm not that gullible, Hinami.

Anyway, she'd already talked to Kikuchi-san.

"What did Kikuchi-san say?" I asked, tensing up.

"Huh? She said it was fine, obviously!" Hinami tilted her head adorably.

"R-really…?" Her simple blow took the wind out of my sails. "Okay,

then."

I nodded, as if at her command. It was so frustrating. But adding

someone as a friend wasn't such a big deal, right? I'd asked Mimimi if I

could add her myself; compared to that, this should be a sure bet. I fired

myself up and held my breath.

"…There!"

I boldly tapped the ADD button. I'd done it.

"Nicely done. It would have been even better if you asked her directly,

but…you didn't really have a chance, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

I nodded, my face flushing from her compliment. Please just stop,

Hinami.

But at least I'd accomplished one task. I let out a long breath and took

my first sip of the iced latte I'd ordered.

"…Hey, Tomozaki-kun? You haven't sent her a message yet, have you?

What was that sigh of relief for?"

"Oh."

Another hit from heroine Hinami. She was right, though. I was way too

satisfied with myself just for adding Kikuchi-san as a friend. I was already

acting like I'd reached some kind of goal, but the truth was, today's goal was

to ask her out.

"I think all you'll need to do today is send her a short message."

"Yeah? What if she writes back?"

"Well, with someone like Yuzu, if you send a LINE message she'll fire

back immediately, but with someone like Fuka-chan, even if she reads it right

away, you won't get a reply for a long time. Her type tends to treat LINE like

e-mail and letters!"

"Yeah…that does sound like Kikuchi-san."

Most kids like us would fire off messages constantly, but she would take

her time and respond at a leisurely pace, like correspondence on paper. That

sounded about right for the fairy of the library. I could totally see it.

"I'll leave the content up to you. I think you'll be fine as long as you

mention I gave you her ID and that you want to see a movie over summer

vacation!"

"What? You're leaving it up to me…?"

Reeling a little, I remembered she had told me before that it was time for

me to train my ability to think for myself now that I'd learned to take action.

"S-so…thinking about the content is part of my training right now?"

"Hexactly," she said with a grin. Guess she used that word even in

heroine mode.

I had no idea where to start with the message.

"…This is tough."

Still, all I could do was give it my best. Here goes, then. All in the name

of training.

I nodded stiffly and quietly began typing. Glancing up between thoughts,

I caught sight of Hinami dreamily sucking up a sherbet-like orange liquid

from her cup. She was lost in her own world. She only looked that happy

when she was eating, even if it wasn't cheese. Honestly, at moments like

these, she was incredibly cute.

As I was gazing helplessly at her strangely girlish, innocent expression,

she looked over at me. Her eyes were sharp as they met mine.

"…What?"

"…Nothing."

Hinami suddenly and threateningly snapped out of heroine mode and into

real Hinami with such force it gave me whiplash. I conceded complete defeat

and returned to my message. I'd been briefly charmed by her expression, but

I was wrong. She wasn't cute.

Anyway, um…for the moment, I figured I'd focus on not writing

something weird. Yeah, that was the way to go. After all, that was about all I

was capable of. Man. Everyone acts like LINE is so easy, but I sure was

having a hard time.

After a few minutes, I looked up

"Whew. Done."

When I completed the message, I noticed that Hinami had finished her

orange liquid. Don't you think you should slow down with the sweet drinks?

"Ooh…show me, show me!"

I passed my phone to Hinami, who had returned to heroine mode like

she'd never left it. This was the message typed on the screen:

[Hinami gave me your LINE ID.

I read another Andi book since last time we talked. This one was really

good, too.

So how about the idea I mentioned before of going to see the movie based

on his book in Shibuya?

Let me know when you're free! ]

Hinami stared at the message with concern. Wh-what?! What's that look

for?

"Wh-what do you think…?" I asked anxiously.

Hinami looked at me, her expression unchanged. "Well, maybe the

awkwardness is for the best…"

"Um, wh-what do you mean…?" I asked quietly. That comment only

made me more worried.

"I think…it's fine if you send it like this."

Hinami sounded unusually unsure of herself, and suddenly everything

was weird. Was this because she was in heroine mode? Or was my message

so questionable it even undermined Hinami's confidence?

"Uh, um, so…?"

"Yeah…let's send this…okay?" She tilted her head to the side. Guess

that was a green light?

"Okay…" I channeled energy into my finger. "Send!"

I summoned all my courage and hit the SEND button. Then I asked

Hinami to make sure I'd actually sent it.

"Yup. Now all you have to do is wait for a response. I think it should

come sometime today!"

"Oh, okay."

"Well, good job. That should be enough for today. Get in touch with me

when you hear from Kikuchi-san, all right? Actually, never mind—you might

as well think about what to say back yourself. I'll leave it to you! I'll let you

know when I have more information about the overnight trip."

"O-okay."

"As for your last assignment…"

"Huh?" Just when I thought I was done, here comes another assignment.

Shocker.

"I said there might be another assignment after the date, didn't I?"

"Da…"

This wasn't a date; it was special training! But when she said that word

in heroine mode, it hit home all the same. Yet even as her wicked smile

delivered the sucker punch, I remembered what she'd said.

"Oh yeah. You said you might have another one for me, depending on

how things were going."

"Right. I've been thinking…"

Hinami stared down at the receipt from our drinks. "Lately, you've been

buying clothes and eating out, and if you come camping with us, you'll have

to pay for that, too."

"…Yeah." I was a little worried about that.

"So I was thinking that pretty soon your savings might run dry."

Recalling the contents of my wallet earlier, I replied solemnly, "To tell

you the truth, you're right."

Hinami sighed and nodded. "Thought so. You'd better start soon, then."

"Start what?"

She frowned in exasperation. "A part-time job? Obviously!"

"A job…?"

My summer was already looking Spartan enough with the assignments

from school and today, but to add a job to that…?

Hinami was fiddling with her phone. "If you have just one insular

relationship, you're not actually seeing the full picture, and other things may

seem arbitrary and unpredictable even though they make perfect sense. So

not only will you earn some cash, but this will be a chance to learn from a

new perspective!"

"Oh, uh-huh… Yeah, I think this was inevitable…"

That was definitely true in terms of money. If I was going to be buying a

bunch of new clothes and going out to do stuff I didn't usually do, my regular

allowance wasn't going to cut it. My parents assumed I didn't have any

friends, so aside from my New Year's money, they kept my allowance to a

bare minimum. They sure do know their kid.

"That's why I want you to interview for some jobs around here!" Hinami

showed me her phone. At the same moment, my own phone vibrated.

"Huh?" Even though I had a few more friends than I used to, I still hardly ever got texts or calls. I jumped a little in surprise and checked the screen. "…Um, Hinami?" I felt like my brain had reached capacity. Everything went blank. "Yes?" she answered sweetly. Come on, stop messing with me! Wait, that's not the issue right now. "Y-you said it would take her a while to write back…" "…Huh?" She looked at my phone. There was a LINE message from Kikuchi-san. Hinami tapped the screen expressionlessly. "Hey!" I said as we read the message together. [I'd love to go! I can make time any day other than Tuesdays and Wednesdays in August! What is your schedule like? ] Hinami was mildly surprised at the message, which had taken less than ten minutes to arrive. Then she rested her chin on her palm as if she was plotting something, raised her eyebrows teasingly, and gave me one of her sadistic smiles. "Sounds like she's really looking forward to seeing that movie with you." "Wha…?" With that, my brain circuits fizzled, my face turned hot, and I couldn't say another word. That was the end of our first date—I mean, the first special training day of summer. Later, after I had cooled down enough to listen to Hinami's advice, Kikuchi-san and I exchanged some more extremely polite e-mails and managed to arrange a movie date. Monday, August 1. Four days away. I felt like I was going to explode if I had to think about one more thing. Honestly, though…I was a little happy, too. After all, even if we're just friends who both like Andi's novels, she still agreed to go see a movie with just me. And if that was the case, I had a responsibility to do everything I could to prepare.

I figured I'd spend the next day memorizing conversation topics, practicing my tone, doing image training, and generally getting ready for our date. But that's not how it all went down, because this summer vacation Hinami-san was in charge. * * * It was the following night, and I was getting ready to go to sleep. I lay in bed flipping through flash cards with conversation topics on them, unusually tense because the movie date was only three days away. [Don't make any plans on August fourth or fifth. ] Hinami's LINE message got right to the point, and it would be the first of several about the overnight trip. I put the flash cards down next to my pillow and picked up my phone. [What's up? ] [Yuzu, Mimimi, Nakamura, Mizusawa, Takei, and I are having a BBQ, and you can come. ] [Wait a second ] She had suddenly decided to share her big secret, I see. I guess it makes her happy to push my limits. Yeah, it definitely does. [We're going to spend the night Are you free? ] [Yeah, but just wait a second ] [We're going to meet at Mimimi's house to plan everything. Are you free tomorrow or the next day? ] [Can you slow down?! ] Once again, my brain circuits were about to fry as I aggressively swiped my reply into the phone. [Yes or no? ] [I'm free both days ] [Thought so. ] [What's that supposed to mean? ] I do get why she would say that, of course. [Anyway, we're meeting tomorrow afternoon at Kitayono Station. I'll let you know when we decide on an exact time. ] [Hey, what's this BBQ gonna be like? When? Where? Is this the overnight you were talking about? ]

The notification popped up showing she'd read my message, and a beat later, my phone started playing music. La-la-la… Out of surprise at this unusual occurrence, I dropped my phone on the bed, which made the chaos several times worse. When I gingerly picked it up and looked at the screen, I saw that Hinami was calling me through the app. Huh? You can make phone calls on LINE? With timid, shaking fingers, I swiped the button to answer the call. "Hel…hello?" "Can you hear me?" That strangely beautiful, clear, confident voice reached my ear. "Yeah, I can hear you…but why did you call me?" "Huh? 'Cause it was going to be annoying to write a text." "Oh right." I guess talking on the phone was no big deal for normies. I, on the other hand, got nervous just hearing the word phone . I don't trust myself to carry a conversation. "Anyway, the basic story with the overnight is we're trying to get Yuzu and Nakamura together." Since I couldn't see her body language, I was extra focused on her voice. I should be used to it by now, but I felt like that clear, melodic sound was penetrating straight into my brain. "Huh." For some reason, I was sitting on my bed with my legs folded under me like a proper disciple as we talked. Of course, this was the first time I was talking on the phone with someone my age of the opposite sex, so it felt kind of like a secret conversation. The fact that we were talking right before bed shook me up, too, so I hardly registered what she was saying. "Recently, you've been able to have normal conversations with Yuzu and Mimimi and Hanabi and Fuka-chan, but you still don't have many guy friends, and that's a big issue." "Oh yeah… That's true." I tried to absorb what Hinami was saying despite my pounding heart. The thing about not having guy friends had occurred to me before. "On the trip, you'll develop your male friendships. Plus, spending two days surrounded by normies will gain you major EXP. Those are your goals." The breeze from the air conditioner further chilled the cold sweat

dripping down my neck. "So what were you saying about getting Nakamura and Yuzu together?" "That's the main goal of the trip. They refuse to just go out, so the idea started with the other five of us. We wanted to make it happen." "Ha-ha-ha… What a normie plan…" I was still sitting perfectly still with my legs folded under me, my back straight. "Since that's the point of the trip, I'm hoping you won't interfere, and if there's something you can do to help, I'd like you to do it. But I doubt there's much you can do, and it's hard to focus on two separate goals, so you shouldn't worry about it too much." "I see…" Socializing with Nakamura, Mizusawa, and Takei and trying to make male friends was a fairly heavy load for me already. If I had to strategize ways to bring Nakamura and Izumi together on top of that, I'd be severely overworked. Anyway, now I knew the goal here. I'd been right there with Izumi as she earnestly tried to choose a present that Nakamura would like, so I did honestly hope it would work out between them. Plus, I am Izumi's mentor after all. "It shouldn't cost more than ten thousand yen… Do you have that much?" "T-ten thousand…" I thought about my bank balance. "Maybe…just barely." "Well, worst-case scenario I can lend you some cash, but if it's really gonna be tough for you, you don't have to come, okay? As far as money goes, I mean." "Um…" My quickly frying brain waffled for a minute. It was going to be tight. On the other hand, I could imagine how hard she'd worked to get me accepted into the group. I'd be starting a part-time job soon, and this would be a big training opportunity… My fingers tightened around the phone. "No, I'll go," I said very clearly and decisively. "…Okay. In that case, meet us tomorrow at Kitayono Station like I said. Probably around two. We'll be talking about the Yuzu-Nakamura strategy, so it'll just be Mimimi and Mizusawa and me."

"Oh, okay." Based on who was coming, tomorrow's meeting wouldn't be too hard for me. "Takei is coming on the trip, but he's generally useless and would probably just get in the way; he's not coming to the meeting. He doesn't even know what the trip is for." "Oh…" Wow, way to dunk on the guy. "As far as your assignment for tomorrow's meeting goes…" "Yeah?" So she had an assignment in mind. Figures. "I want you to mess with Mizusawa three times tomorrow." "M-mess with him?" That sounded kind of aggressive; now I was getting nervous. "Yes. It's fine to just argue with something he says. Do you know why I want you to do this?" "No…," I answered honestly, and Hinami launched into a brisk explanation. "There's a very common problem non-normies make when they want to change their social status and that is to go along with whatever the normies say." "Go along with whatever they say?" "Yes," Hinami said in her quiet, beautiful voice. I felt like the speaker in my phone was sighing. "When a non-normie tries to join a normie group, they often agree with whatever the in-group says and act like they're happy about everything in a desperate attempt to belong." "…Yeah, I can see that." Makes sense when you think about it. If you don't know how to become friends, you probably start by trying to demonstrate that you're just like them. But I had some doubts. "Are you saying that's wrong?" It was an honest question. I mean, if you could become friends just by agreeing with someone, that would be a great way of becoming a normie. "Yes, it's a huge mistake. The best position you'll ever gain through that strategy is as a designated punching bag. You may be temporarily accepted, but you'll never be an equal. You're just a poser." "A poser…" I'd seen that word online a bunch of times. I think it meant a normie who

was always changing based on what seemed trendy or cool. "Posers are those stupid people who base their whole identity on belonging to the popular group. They don't have any friends who treat them as equals, and everything they do is defined by their attempts to fit the values of the group they want to be a part of. In that sense they're even worse than loners, so you should definitely avoid intentionally going in that direction. Basically, you just need to remember the end goal we set right at the beginning, which is for you to become a normie on the same level as me." I couldn't help smiling cynically at Hinami as she delivered this cut-anddried explanation. "I get it—don't become a poser, because then I'll never be an equal. But you're saying the assignment that will help me do that is to mess with Mizusawa three times?" I lowered my voice so my parents and sister wouldn't hear our conversation. They sure would be surprised if they heard me talking about posers and equal friendships. I was still sitting on my knees. "Yes. It's a way to build a friendship where you're at least an equal. Instead of agreeing with the person all the time, you mess with them a little, make some pointed comments, challenge them when you disagree with them. That way, it's harder for them to treat you like an idiot or mess with you." "…Makes sense." Something occurred to me at that point. What she was saying sounded similar to what I called the Mizusawa Method, where you said something harsh but it somehow didn't mess up the relationship. Huh. So the effect of that was to create a relationship where you were at least equal to the other person. Pretty amazing that Mizusawa did that naturally. "Simply put, the high school hierarchy is ultimately based on whether a person is able to mess with lots of other people or not." "…Oh." I understood her point intuitively. Now that she'd laid it out for me, I could see that the reason Nakamura was among the most powerful people in our class was that no one could mess with him, but he could mess with whomever he wanted. I mean, Nakamura wouldn't be Nakamura if he didn't give people crap, and I also couldn't imagine him being the butt of everyone else's jokes… You know, in that light, human relationships start to seem kinda scary. "Of course, if you do it too much, people will see you as overly

aggressive or annoying, and your position will fall. That's why I've put a limit on your assignment." "Oh, gotcha." The fact that she'd said "three times" instead of "at least three times" was apparently important. "Anyway, that's your assignment. You should be careful not to tease him about anything too weird, but he basically thinks you're interesting because of the way you told Erika Konno off, so I think he'll let a mistake or two slide. That's why I chose him for this assignment." "Wow, you sure did think this through…" "Obviously." I could imagine her usual triumphant expression. "That's about it. Do you understand the general idea? Any questions?" "N-no, I'm fine. I got it." "Really? Okay, then I'll see you tomorrow." "Right, see you then." Suddenly the line went dead. I was left alone, legs still folded under me, with the quiet hum of the air conditioner filling the cool room. I realized how nervous I'd been through the whole conversation. So tomorrow. I had more vacation homework ahead of me. The assignment was to mess with the super-normie Mizusawa three times…? Could I pull it off? "Well, for now…" I pulled open my desk drawer and put away the flash cards I'd prepared for Kikuchi-san. Tomorrow's meeting would consist of Hinami, Mimimi, and Mizusawa. "In which case…this and this should work." I pulled out two new stacks of conversation cards and flipped through them. I figured that if I was going to push back against someone in the group, I'd have to make sure my base of memorized topics was especially solid. If it wasn't, my brain wouldn't be able to both participate in the group conversation and think about my assignment. I knew that the more I memorized, the more smoothly my conversations would go and the easier it would be for me to interact with other people, and I got a little zing of accomplishment every time I memorized a new topic. It was actually getting to be fun. I guess when you see the results of your efforts, making that effort stops feeling like such a burden. I'd memorized the bulk of the topics when I realized there was something else I had to do. Might as well ride the wave and do it right now. I took out my phone, went to the website Hinami had sent me before, and tapped the phone number. It rang a few times before someone picked up. "Thank you for your calling the Karaoke Sevens Omiya facility. How can I help you?" "Um…I'm calling about your job notice online…" Within a few minutes, I'd set up an interview for August 3, five days from now. That meant tomorrow, July 30, I'd go to the strategy meeting at Mimimi's house. On August 1, I'd go see a movie with Kikuchi-san. On the third, I'd have an interview for a summer job. Then on the fourth and fifth, I'd go on the overnight barbecue trip. This really was shaping up to be a summer vacation with no rest, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. * * * The next day was July 30, the day of the meeting. Just as Hinami had predicted, we were supposed to meet at Kitayono Station at two. I arrived at the station about five minutes early and stood there roasting in the blazing sun. I was wearing the pants and shoes from the mannequin outfit and the T-shirt Hinami had chosen for me two days earlier. Apparently, the plan was for the four of us to meet up and go to Mimimi's house to talk. I'd been to a girl's room twice before—once when Hinami dragged me to her place and once when I went to Izumi's house to teach her Atafami —but both of those times were unusual situations. The experience was still totally new for me, and I couldn't help feeling nervous. Looking around to see if anyone else was there yet, I spotted Mizusawa leaning against a shady wall, looking at his phone. Everything about him was pure cool . He was just standing there, though; why was I feeling that way? Based on what Hinami had taught me, I guessed it was the overall impression created from his clothes, hair, posture, expression—all the little details. Mizusawa naturally scored incredibly high in all those areas. My stomach hurt just thinking about the fact that I had to mess with or challenge this super normie three times today. I gave myself a little pep talk, approached him, and made eye contact when he noticed me. "Hey, Fumiya." "H-hey." With an agreeable, breezy smile, he dropped the polite suffix from my name and raised a hand in greeting. It was a simple combination of words and action, but it demonstrated a powerful coolness I could never achieve. These little behaviors added up gradually to determine whether it was okay to push them around a little. I already felt on the verge of giving up. But I had to at least try. Mess with him or challenge him. Three times. Mizusawa wiped the sweat from his cheeks with his hand. "Damn, it's hot today." It crossed my mind to argue with him right then and there—Really, you think it's hot? I disagree —but since it was undeniably hot, I decided to agree with him. Close call. I was about to become that weird guy. "Y-yeah." I thought I'd reached the point where I could say "Yeah" without stuttering, but since I was thinking about how to contradict him at the same time, it didn't come out so smooth. "Hope this trip goes well," Mizusawa said, giggling like a happy kid. His smile was friendly. His usual coolness was still there, but there was a softness along with it. Maybe this was one of those smiles that inspires the maternal instinct… Anyway, even I knew that it would be weird to argue back on that point (It's not necessarily for the best if it goes well, in my opinion. Other guys might like Izumi, too, you know? ), so once again I let the conversation flow along smoothly. Aside from my current assignment, I still had to do the basic work of developing a topic, right? Uh, we're talking about the trip… Yeah, I had something memorized for that. "You mean the strategy to get Izumi and Nakamura together?" Pulling up an appropriate comment from my stock, I delivered it in a slightly joking tone. "Yeah!" "Uh, for two people who like each other, they sure are taking forever to get together." I made a conscious effort to advance the discussion myself. I'd recorded and practiced the nonchalant delivery multiple times, so I don't think I sounded weird. Still, it felt harder than usual because I also had to look for opportunities to push him. "Before we launched this plan, I did ask Yuzu when the hell they were going to start dating." "Oh yeah?" "She said she wants to date him, but she can't make the first move… She's too chicken." "Er, ha-ha, yeah, Izumi isn't very brave when it comes to stuff like that." I smiled as I tried to sound like a normie. I must have been thinking too much about how to mess with Mizusawa, because I ended up ragging on someone who wasn't even there instead. Pretty sure Hinami wouldn't count that. "Those two'll talk your ear off, but when it comes to this stuff, they're super naive. Those two idiots are making us do all the work." He smiled amiably again. While I was tripping over myself to find something only slightly rude to say, with questionable results, he'd just showed me how it was done with that light, smooth, agreeable, totally harsh comment. His harshness was directed at people who weren't here, just like mine was, but damn he was good. I felt like I was observing a textbook example. "So it's not just Izumi, huh? I'm surprised Nakamura is like that, too." I thought back to when Izumi gave Nakamura the present. His reaction made me think he was fairly interested. Even I had seen some hope there. Mizusawa lowered his voice comically. "Basically, he's a simple guy. I mean, just look at the way he gets all excited about Atafami ." "True." I nodded, matching my mood to Mizusawa's casual one. I managed to brush away the revoltingly weak question that kept crossing my mind about whether I was even allowed to talk on such equal terms with Mizusawa. I had to think of him as an equal…but no, it was impossible to see myself on equal terms with someone so cool. "Of course, you can't talk when it comes to Atafami , can you? You're an idiot yourself on that front." "Ah-ha-ha…you're right there." With that, Mizusawa managed to needle me before I'd messed with him. And to top it off, I didn't even mind that much. Total failure. "I dunno if he even knows how to set himself up for anything. I'm not sure if I'd call him honest or just plain stupid." His smile was both exasperated and vaguely amused. Amazing. This whole time he's naturally and effortlessly doing what I'm struggling so hard to achieve. I smiled along, but at the same time, I was searching for my opportunity to get in a jab. Just then, Mimimi and Hinami showed up. Shit. I'm at zero points so far. "Hey! You guys sure are early!!" Mimimi walked toward us, swinging her arms energetically. She was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, which even I could see was a really simple outfit, but she was naturally attractive enough that it still grabbed your attention. "Sorry to make you wait!" Hinami was wearing some white thing with fluffy sleeves and a grayish skirt. A bag with a pale-yellow strap was slung over her shoulder. I'd never seen the bag before. Then I noticed she was also wearing a big blue watch— also new to me—and she had some sort of sparkly jewel on her left ear. Which made me think she'd been very careful in choosing her outfit. I'm not one to say, but it looked perfect to me. "Long time no see, huh?! Heya, Brain!" Mimimi thumped my shoulder with her signature excessive force. It hurt, but I was glad to see her back to her energetic old self. Mizusawa was looking at us suspiciously. "Brain? Oh yeah, I kind of remember you mentioned that before in the dining hall." "Yup!" Mimimi said, giving him a thumbs-up. I thought back to the time we'd run into the Nakamura Faction during one of our student council strategy meetings in the cafeteria. We'd told him that I was the "brain" of her campaign and I was helping write her speech. "Oh, um, yeah… Ha-ha-ha." I laughed, hoping he wouldn't figure out that the stunt we pulled during the speech was all choreographed. Mizusawa's face went blank for a second, but then he glanced around at the group and continued talking. "So should we get going? We're going to Mimimi's place, right? Which way is it?" "Oh, sorry, guys…," Mimimi said, pressing her hands together in front of her face like she was praying for our forgiveness. "My grandma ended up coming over today. Can we go to a diner or something instead?" She winked and looked at each of us in turn. "Sure, no worries. I think there's a Saizeriya around here and a Jonathan's, too, right?" "Oh, oops!" Mimimi squealed, like she'd just realized something. "What's wrong?" Mizusawa asked. "I just remembered," she said, looking at me for some reason. "Your house is near Kitayono, too, isn't it, Tomozaki?" "Huh?" This was unexpected; I wasn't sure how to react. "Yeah, it is, but…" "Then why don't we go there?!" She brought her palms together again, this time pleading. "Uh, um…" As I was fumbling for words, Hinami piled on. "Oh, good idea! Would that be okay, Tomozaki?" Damn. That was her order for me to go along with it. I had no idea whether this was part of my special training or merely her sadistic side coming out, but I had no other choice. "Um…no, it's not a problem." "Yay, Tomozaki! Comin' in clutch!" "Fumiya's house, huh? Looking forward to that," Mizusawa added. Mimimi strode forward, taking the lead. "Okay, let's get going!" But she was going in the opposite direction from my house. "Um, that's the wrong way. It's the same direction as your house, I think." "Oh yeah, right!" Mimimi turned back toward me, laughing off her mistake, then strode off again. She was hopeless. I followed somewhat timidly. "Let's search his house." "Definitely!" Behind me, Mizusawa and Hinami were teasing me. Damn, I was getting messed with nonstop, and I hadn't managed one little jab. Guess that's the fate of bottom-tier characters. * * * "H-Hinami-senpai…and Nanami-senpai…and Mizusawa-senpai…?!" My little sister had come down to the door when we got there, and she was staring at us with both hands over her mouth and nose as if she were witnessing a natural disaster. "Um, mind if we use the house for a while? I promise we won't leave my room…" "N-no problem! And no worries, you can leave your room!" She gazed at the three older kids with sparkling, excited eyes. What was with her? No, I could see what was going on. Here I was with the perfect heroine of our school, Aoi Hinami, along with the cool, studly guy who had given a speech introducing her during the student council elections, and the number-two member of the track team who had challenged Hinami's goldstar team in the election. The three of them were probably the most famous second-year students at Sekitomo High School right now. Given my sister's fangirling, she apparently was very excited to see these three idols together in person. Plus me, from the bottom of the hierarchy, which had thrown her entire worldview for a loop. "Mom! Tomozaki brought some friends… Friends? Er, some cool kids from his class over to our house!!" "What?! Fumiya…brought kids from his class over?! Friends?! What is going on?!" "I don't know! It's weird, right?!" "What should we do?! Should I go buy a cake or something?!" "I don't know! Maybe some red rice and beans?!" "Should I start cooking some?!" "Oh, shut up, you two! Leave me alone!" Mimimi started laughing as my family descended into chaos. "…What?" "Nothing! Your family's just funny!" "I feel like that wasn't a compliment…" At that point, Mizusawa started laughing, too. "Nah, I think it was, dude!" "What? Really…?" Right then, I remembered my assignment. "No, I'm pretty sure it wasn't." "Ha-ha-ha! Really?" "Uh, yeah." I'd managed to muster a minor revolt against Mizusawa. Would this count as one time? It was a very tiny contradiction. On the other hand, if I hadn't had that assignment, I never would have said it. And now that I had, I felt I'd expressed my own thoughts in a small way. I was starting to see how doing this over and over could lead to an equal relationship. As all these thoughts ran through my head, I took off my shoes so I could bring everyone up to my room. After Mimimi and Mizusawa took theirs off, they both grinned and looked back and forth between me and the living room, where my mom and sister were standing. I glanced back at Hinami to see if she'd noticed my comment to Mizusawa. She was briskly lining everyone's shoes up in a neat row in the entryway. Then she stood up like she hadn't done anything special and walked over to me. "…What?" she asked. "Oh, nothing…" She was amazing in so many ways. We all headed up to my room. "Ooh, Brain, I see something sketchy!" With that, Mimimi, Mizusawa, and Hinami began a thorough inspection of my private space. There was my bed and my desk, a little CRT TV I used for playing old games, and a console for playing Atafami . Aside from that and a small laptop laying on my bed, there wasn't much in my drab Westernstyle bedroom. Search all you want, guys. You won't find anything! "What is this?! There are so many controllers in here!" Mimimi said excitedly as she pulled a plastic bag out of my desk. It was full of controllers that I'd burned through and planned to get rid of later. "Oh, those are just practice controllers for Atafami . They aren't good anymore…" "You went through this many?!" "Yeah, you use that many over two or three years. I can't bring myself to get rid of them because they're still good for other games…" The joysticks weren't too worn down for regular use, so it didn't seem right to throw them out. They just wouldn't work in Atafami because it required such delicate joystick maneuvers. "Huh…you really are intense when it comes to stuff like that," Mimimi said, returning the bag gently to its drawer. "Yeah, I guess I am." Mizusawa burst out laughing at my fairly confident answer. "What?" "Nothing… It's just—you really are a weirdo." I didn't get it. Wait…is he messing with me again? "What's so weird about it?" I pushed back, hoping I might get another point out of this. "It's just funny, dude," he said, cackling. "Right, Ao—" He glanced back at Hinami and stopped midsentence. Thinking that was odd, I followed his glance and saw that Hinami was reaching into the plastic bag of controllers and touching each one with her finger to see how worn down the joysticks were. "Aoi?" She flinched a little when Mizusawa called her name, which wasn't like her. Gradually, the look in her eyes transitioned from total seriousness back to perfect heroine. "It's such a waste to throw these away… If I were your mom, I'd be so upset…!" "Ha-ha-ha! What are you talking about? I didn't know you were such a penny-pincher!" "But it's a waste…! I am appalled !" She ad-libbed along with Mizusawa, playing a silly character. She was truly amazing. "Seriously, though," Mizusawa said, sitting down next to Hinami. "This is real commitment." He peered into Hinami's face. Was he talking about my commitment to Atafami ? More importantly, they were sitting waaay too close to each other. A genuine in-your-face conversation between a handsome guy and a beautiful girl. "…Huh? Did I say that?" Hinami looked him in the eye, apparently unwilling to go along with him. What was she doing? True, she'd been talking about wasting resources, not commitment. Still, she was so close to him with those glistening eyes. Guess this was a normie tactic? I was impressed. A battle between two strong characters. "What? I totally assumed that's what you were thinking. It's incredible. Shows how serious he is." Mizusawa grinned. Even as a guy, I knew he was attractive, and he was smiling at her at close range. A cross counterattack involving a smile and upturned eyes. Would it manage to inflict damage on Hinami? Also, for some reason his tone was ironic, but I'm not sure why. "You could be right." Hinami grinned, too. No visible damage. A draw, then. "…Anyway, let's get this meeting started." Mizusawa stood up and turned toward the three of us. The battle was over, and it had been fierce. I didn't understand what they were saying, but the intensity of their exchange was palpable. Meanwhile, Mimimi ignored the whole battle and instead was scavenging around my room for porn DVDs. "Are they in here?" she murmured, pawing through my closet. "Where could they be?" Making herself a little too at home, I'd say. Too bad for her, I'm the type who keeps everything in the Math folder on my laptop. * * * "A test of courage is going to be essential! I say basic is best!" Mimimi cheerfully proposed her plan for getting Nakamura and Izumi together. "I think you're right. If we don't do something like that, neither one of them will ever make a move." Mizusawa got on board. I thought about contradicting them, but all I could come up with was something that would rock the foundation of the whole trip, like, No, I think those two will get together on their own somehow. Let's believe in them , so this time I decided to go along with Mimimi. "Yeah. They say the suspension-bridge effect is powerful stuff." "Exactly! Turn up the heat, and they'll jump into each other's arms! I knew you'd get it, Tomozaki!" Hinami jumped in with Mimimi's cheerful mood. "Get the two of them alone, and they'll be inseparable!" "Yeah! Ah, young love!" Mimimi said, bouncing off Hinami's words in return. The tidal wave of this conversation was something else. I was barely hanging on—hell, maybe I was already out—and I had to think about my assignment at the same time? I revved my brain into high gear. "You ladies sure are enjoying yourselves!" Mizusawa laughed. "Now we just need to think of an excuse." Hinami nodded. "I already checked with Yuzu, so there's no question how she feels." "And Nakamu is totally into her! I can tell these things!" "Anyone can tell that," Mizusawa said, getting in a quick jab. "What?! No way?!" "Yeah, I'm serious. Even you can tell, right, Fumiya?!" "Yup, even me." "Really?!" Mimimi made a dramatic show of surprise. I was secretly pleased with myself for having joined in so smoothly with this snappy conversation, but I was also preparing myself for the next wave. Plus, I had to look for my chance to butt heads with Mizusawa again. To do that, I was going to have to ignore the need to ride the wave to a certain extent. Ahhh…too much to think about. Or maybe the wave wasn't going to come, and I had to make it myself. Um, like this? "We're having a barbecue, right?" "Um, yeah." "How about we give them some jobs where they'll end up alone together?" Should I be making proposals? "Hey, that's a good idea!" Mizusawa said. "Like have them make the fire or something!" Yes! I succeeded in drawing out an answer to my own proposal that I could contradict! Based on some research I'd done in advance, I brought my argument into play. "Or better yet…how about we have them cut up the ingredients?" I didn't even miss a beat in the conversation. "You think so?" Mizusawa asked directly, looking right at me. Okay, better think of a reason… "I—I mean, making the fire is a tough job, so I'm not sure we should leave it to those two…" "Ha-ha-ha! Is that why? You may be right!" Mizusawa laughed. I'd ended up making fun of Izumi and Nakamura a little bit again. That seems to be the inevitable result when I'm thinking about arguing back at the same time. Anyway, point two gained! Let's keep going—one more! Or that was my plan, but the conversation was moving on without me. "Something's bugging me," Mizusawa muttered as the strategy started to fall into place. "What is it, young man?" Mimimi was being goofy again. "Pretty soon we'll be third-year students getting ready for university entrance exams." "You promised not to mention that…!" Mimimi's face turned white. "That's not it, but…" As Mizusawa rubbed his brow, Hinami spoke up from her spot next to him. "You're saying we don't have much time to goof around, so we'd better make sure we get them together on this trip?" She grinned. "Yeah…basically," Mizusawa said softly, looking away from her. Aha! Looks like he's a lot more thoughtful than he seems on the surface… Is this my chance? I took a deep breath. I mentally reviewed the tones I'd practiced on the voice recorder and the skills I'd stolen from Mimimi, Hinami, and even Mizusawa himself. That would allow my body to do the necessary work even if my mind was all tense and nervous. "Hey, Mizusawa, you're not getting all mushy on us, are you?" I teased —lightly, with my best joking tone. Mimimi giggled. "He is! I noticed the same thing! Are you embarrassed, Takahiro? What a good guy!" As Mimimi added another hit, Mizusawa smiled. "Ha-ha-ha, right? I am a good guy." He pounded his chest comically. Wow. He took our teasing and immediately turned it inside out to display his position as leader. The masterful skill of a normie. Anyway, that made three points. Assignment completed. "But I get what you mean! They're into each other, and they seem like such a perfect pair; it's a waste for them not to be together! And we can't stay young forever…" Mimimi pretended to cry, but part of her seemed serious. "Yup," Mizusawa said, nodding solemnly. Their exchange surprised me a little. I'd assumed that even though they were talking about getting Izumi and Nakamura together, the main point of the trip was to have fun. But apparently, everyone was serious about their goal. Until recently, I assumed normies lived a happy-go-lucky life and never thought deeply about anything. Had I been mistaken? After all, the ones here with me thought very earnestly about their friends. My enthusiasm for this whole becoming-a-normie thing just spiked a little. * * * Twenty or thirty minutes later, we'd hammered out all the details of our plan and were hanging around chatting. "Anyway, right then Shuji's parents called him, and he had to go home." "Ah-ha-ha-ha! That was perfect timing! I guess his parents really are strict!" "Yeah. I mean, think about it. Shuji's a total dumbass, and he hates studying. He'd never get into Sekitomo High if his family wasn't hard-core about education." "Very true!" Mimimi cackled with loud, over-the-top laughter. The conversation was heating up over this story about how Nakamura had to go home just when he was about to get into a fight at the arcade with some guys from another school. Hinami gave her own cute, sophisticated laugh before broadening the topic. "Shuji is usually so full of himself, but he can barely lift his finger against his parents. Wonder why." "Well, I've never seen her in person, but from what I've overheard from his phone conversations…his mom's married to a gangster." Mizusawa mimicked slicing through the base of his right pinkie with his left pointer finger, indicating the infamous yakuza punishment. "Yikes, don't do that! That was scary!" I said. I was done with my assignment, but I wanted to take the initiative to tease him a little more. Even as I was saying it, though, I could feel that my delivery was off. "Really? But I'm telling the truth." "I mean, gangster wives still have their pinkies." There was no turning back now, so I dived in further. I was spiraling out of control. Mizusawa just stared at me for a minute before finally saying, "Ha-ha-ha. Yeah, I guess so." His short, cynical laugh was followed by an uncomfortable-sounding comment. I glanced over at Mimimi. She seemed confused. "Uh, I mean, no…" Right then, I came back to my senses. I'd gotten carried away and said something weird. Hinami had told me to keep it to three times, and now I'd overdone it and screwed things up. What to do now? This was so embarrassing. P-please don't look! I shut up for a minute, falling into a depression by that one small moment of awkwardness. I'm sure everyone was thinking I was one of those weirdos who makes awkward comments…and Hinami was giving me exasperated looks. But at least I finished my assignment! To escape the discomfort of her gaze, I brought up a topic I'd memorized. "Anyway, changing the subject…don't you guys think Erika Konno has been kinda grumpy lately?" This prompted a strong response from Mimimi. "Oh yeah, I noticed that, too!!" "She has been acting weird," Hinami said, nodding. "She's probably annoyed because it looks like Yuzu is gonna take Shuji away from her." "Definitely a possibility!" Mimimi said, latching onto Mizusawa's analysis. Whew, I was out of the woods. Thank you, topic memorization. Guess I'd mastered the technique well enough to call on it in my hour of need. After that, with disaster narrowly averted and my assignment done, I managed to introduce a couple more topics I'd memorized especially for this occasion and somehow remain part of the conversation. Since I wasn't attempting any more weird challenges, I was able to lie low for the rest of the day. My specialty. Still, the old me wouldn't even have been able to imagine having an ordinary conversation with three normies—and not just any normies, three conversational masters. I felt like I'd achieved something. More than that, though, probably the most surprising thing was that I actually enjoyed the conversation. Around six, Mimimi looked at the clock on her phone and dropped her jaw. "Shoot, I better get going! I'm supposed to go out with my grandma and the rest of my family for dinner tonight!" Hinami checked her watch, too. "Really? Then should we all get going pretty soon?" "Yeah, I was thinking we could get dinner at Jonathan's, but let's call it a day! We talked enough!" "Ha-ha-ha, yeah, true," I said, nodding. I was out of memorized topics anyway. "Oh, Tomozaki—I'll invite you to our LINE group, okay?" Hinami said in her fake voice. "We can use that for strategy meetings during the trip!" "Oh, okay," I replied. Mizusawa stood up and surveyed the group like he was our leader or something. "Okay, guys, let's get going. Don't forget anything here." Mimimi saluted me. "Too bad I didn't find any DVDs in your room!" "Are you still talking about that?" Hinami said with an exasperated but somehow also affectionate smile. The four of us headed downstairs. I walked them outside, glancing at my sister as she enthusiastically invited them to come hang out again. She was practically swooning when Mizusawa said "Bye" to her. And so the unbelievable normie meeting at my house ended. I went back inside and shut the door, and immediately my sister attacked me with a totally tactless question. "Hey!! Why are you friends with all the cool people? Is the anti-nerd strategy working?" Let me tell you something, dear sister. I may be aiming to move up the social hierarchy, but I'm not going to get rid of my nerdiness. My love for Atafami is eternal.