Chapter 37: Cinderella

༺ Cinderella ༻…It wasn’t even four yet…

Yeah, sure, I told Doah that she could come early, but I didn’t expect her to be this early.

Having just gotten out of the shower, I hadn’t even dried my hair yet, so I ended up having to greet her in a rather shabby outfit.

“S-Sorry, didn’t expect you to come this early…”

“Ah, t-that…”

Well, I couldn’t just keep my guest outside.

Seeing her trying to come up with an excuse, I quickly invited her in.

“Ah, I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just… If you came even a bit earlier, I wouldn’t even be here to open the door for you.”

I would still be in the shower, and she’d have to wait outside for a while.

“U-Um, t-then, excuse me…”

She took off her shoes, glanced around my room, as if scanning it.

By the way, I’ve sealed all the Luka-related merchs inside my closet!

Now my place looked completely like a normal person’s!

How was that, Luka-tan? Did I not do a good job, hm?

During one of her streams, she said that she wanted to do Pink Army room reviews.

Too bad that after today I wouldn’t be able to participate…

I really wanted to show her that poster, though…

It’s too bad I wouldn’t get to see a Disgusted Luka reaction, contemptfully looking down at me like I was some worthless creature.

“Do you mind if I dry my hair for a minute?”

“Oh. Sure. Please feel free.”

Actually, I wanted to change my clothes too, but I guess it was way too late for that, so I decided that I should at least dry my hair first.

-Whirrrr

The sound of the hairdryer filled the room.

There was a real girl in my house. Fuck, I felt nervous now.

And she wasn’t just any girl.

She was my one and only oshi.

“Why are you still standing?”

“Um… I don’t see a place to sit?”

Maybe because I was drying my hair in front of my computer, Doah stood still in front of my bed.

“Just sit on the bed there.”

“…Is that really okay?”

“Yeah. Just sit there while I turn the computer on.”

After I set the hairdryer down, I immediately pressed the power button on the computer.

“Oppa.”

“Hmm?”

When I turned at her call, she pulled a small package out of a paper bag.

“This is a gift.”

“A gift?”

Why would she give me a gift?

“You know, since I’m coming over for the first time, I figured I should give you something…”

She held out her hand to me. On it was a box tied with a ribbon that I accepted.

“It’s fine, you didn’t have to.”

“Open it. It’s not that fancy.”

I did what she said, undid the ribbon and opened the box to reveal a diffuser about the size of a vitamin bottle inside.

“Is this why you asked about that vanilla scent thing yesterday?”

“…Yes.”

Blushing slightly, she stole glances at me, unable to make eye contact with me.

“Ah… Then can I open this right now?”

If it was vanilla scented.

It was bound to smell good.

I took the lid off, and took a sniff of it before nodding.

“This smells good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, well I guess this’ll be enough to fight off the bachelor’s house bad odor.”

I gave her a favorable review with a chuckle, and Doah smiled happily as if she was satisfied.

“Your house doesn’t smell though, Oppa.”

Only because I was ventilating it before you got here.

No way I would ever tell you that though.

“So, should I start VRWorld first or?”

“Uh, hang on a second.”

Doah, who had been sitting on the bed, got up and walked over to me.

“You need to run the headset interface first.”

“How?”

“Could you go to the official website?”

I moved the mouse as Doah instructed. Now I understood why she said it would be good to have someone to help me through this.

The setup was fairly complicated, and there were many steps that were cumbersome to do on my own.

From signing up to authorizing your device, and so on.

“Oppa, please grab the headset and controller from the headset box in the back.”

“Okay.”

Opening the box that Doah brought, I saw the headset inside.

The shape was familiar to me, but thinking that she had always streamed by wearing this made me feel a little tingly.

“Here.”

I handed her the headset, and Doah pressed what I assumed was the power button and immediately put it on her head.

“Oppa, that controller too.”

Doah held her arms out in front of her like a child asking for things.

Knowing she couldn’t see me, I grinned, thinking it was cute, and slipped the controller into her hand without hiding the pleased look on my face.

“Uh, I need to check the range of motion on this thing here, so I’m going to move it around a bit, so could you please sit on your bed?”

“Okay.”

Obediently following her instructions, I watched from behind as Doah wiggled her arms and moved around.

The whole process was amusing.

“Whew… That’s it.”

After taking off her headset, Doah looked at me smugly.

“Why don’t you come over here, Oppa?”

“Sure.”

“Also, we need to adjust the strap on the headset first…”

My head wasn’t big or anything, but Doah’s face was about the size of my fist.

“How do I do that?”

I wanted to do it myself, but Doah said she’d do it and sat me down on the computer chair.

“Is it tight?”

Even after her first adjustment of the straps, the headset was still pretty tight.

“A little.”

“Then.”

She removed the headset again and readjusted it before placing it back on my head.

“How about now?”

“Perfect.”

“Alright, now try to grab the controller and hit the menu screen.”

Doah showed me how to access the VRWorld with the headset.

“First you turn on the interface, and then you go in like this!”

Inside the headset.

My room was no longer my room.

“Wow.”

A new but familiar space.

So this was the first thing that Luka would see whenever she entered the VRWorld?

I moved the controller, and the space moved with it.

“Woah… this tracks all my movements?”

“Yep.”

I stood in front of the mirror and waved my arms around.

My current avatar was the default one, so it didn’t look particularly pretty.

Maybe I should look for another avatar after Doah went home.

There should be plenty of avatars lying around, both male and female, or even the weird ones.

I glanced around as I walked. Hm, would it recognize my speed if I were to move a little faster?

…Uh?

Suddenly, I felt a foreign texture under my foot.

Stepping on what I assumed to be smooth vinyl, I immediately lost my footing and flailed my arms.

In fact, if I hadn’t been wearing the headset, I would have grabbed the wall or whatever was right next to me, but that was impossible.

I thought I was going to fall forward just like that.

“…Oppa!”

But, I felt a soft sensation in my hand.

Luckily, it seemed like I had landed on my blanket.

Judging from Doah’s voice, I must have landed near where she was sitting.

“S-Sorry.”

Fumbling with my hands, I steadied myself with one arm and took off the headset with my free hand.

What came to my sight was Doah, looking up at me in a fairly ambiguous pose. Maybe she was stuck in that pose because she tried to avoid me when I suddenly leapt at her.

She wasn’t sitting.

But she wasn’t lying down either.

As I was looking down at her from above, it made it seem like I was actually trying to pounce on her.

“I guess I should be careful with this thing, my room is cramped after all.”

I quickly stood up out of embarrassment.

“Y-Yeah… A-Anyway, though I’ve set it up, sometimes it’ll glitch and it won’t recognize some things!”

Probably as flustered at me, Doah hurriedly gave me that explanation.

Well, it was my fault for trying to move quickly, but what the fuck was it that made me slip up?

When I checked the floor, I realized that I stepped on the plastic wrap of the diffuser.

“Sorry, Doah. You must have been surprised.” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

I tossed the plastic in the trash before apologizing to her again.

“No, it’s okay.”

Still sitting on the tattered blanket, Doah’s face was still beet red.

“A-Anyway, Oppa.”

“Hm?”

“Can you continue by yourself now?”

Honestly, she had no business in my room anymore after she helped me set up and taught me how to use the device.

If we could play with it together, we would, but there was only one headset here.

Which meant one of us would be stuck in the real world.

While the other would venture inside the virtual world.

“Ah, yeah, I guess.”

“Do you mind if I leave, then?”

Having no reason to hold her back, I nodded at her.

“Of course. Thanks for helping me with this today.”

“It’s nothing. You can just help me with the shoot for the team assignment later.”

“I’ll help as much as I can.”

Doah smiled at my words and stood in the doorway.

“You just have to give it back to me by Friday night.”

“Sure, I’ll text you later, I’ll bring it back to your place.”

Feeling apologetic that I’d called her to come over like a repairman, I offered to return the device myself, but…

“M-My house?”

Doah asked back in surprise.

“’Yeah, I mean, it’s literally next door and all…”

“Well, that is true, but…”

“Look, you came all the way out here and even gifted me a diffuser. That’s literally the least I can do.”

“Okay…”

Doah lowered her head, using her bangs to hide her face.

“Have fun with it, and give it back to me that day.”

Then she turned her back and unlocked the door.

“Sure. Thanks!”

“Mhm, I’m going home!”

-Bang

With that, she closed the front door and I let out a sigh.

Phew… At least I didn’t get caught by Luka-tan.

I was so nervous that she’d somehow catch me, but everything went off without a hitch.

Well, me falling on the bed was a little embarrassing, but…

It wasn’t like I accidentally touched Doah’s chest like in those cringy manhwa.

So, I still could brush it off and move on.

Lying back on the bed, thinking maybe I should try the VR again after a while, I reached for an unfamiliar sensation on my forearm.

What the hell was this?

It seemed to be a stiff little piece of plastic.

Maybe it was a vitamin or something? I picked it up with my fingers, but when I saw what it was, I blinked in confusion.

“…Huh?”

Because this thing wasn’t something you’d find in my house…

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