CH 1

1 - I am, Mizuki Rinka

"I knew it, after all Mizuki-san was beautiful and cute." (Kazuto)

As I relaxed on my bed in my room, I was watching the music video of "Star☆Mines" on my phone.

There are five members of Star☆Mines. All of them were high school girls.

They were wearing cute dresses and dancing cheerfully.

They are a rather popular idol group in the world.

However, I'm only paying attention to Mizuki Rinka.

Rather than being a fan of Star☆Mines, I was a fan of Mizuki Rinka.

The reason I became a fan of her was that we were in the same class.

Her outstanding appearance and cool demeanor caught my attention.

Looking back, I think this was the first time I clearly felt the existence of Idol.

I was not interested in idols before I met Mizuki-san.......

But in the classroom, Mizuki-san stood out with a slightly cold attitude.

She always had a crisp expression and a serious attitude, which made some of the classmates distance themselves from her.

Still, she is a beautiful idol and is terrifyingly popular among boys.

But instead of talking to a particular boy, she had only the bare minimum of conversation with her classmates.

Perhaps she hates men? Such a rumor was flowing.

Well, thinking normally, I guess she was just trying to avoid any scandal (?).

If the public knew that she was getting along with a certain guy, her fans would probably leave her at once.

Then, when you asked if she was on good terms with the girls, that seemed not the case.

In fact, Mizuki-san was rather isolated in the classroom.

Even so, she seemed to get along well with certain girls, and I would occasionally see her talking with girls from her idol group.

One of the reasons why Mizuki-san tends to be isolated is probably because her air is different from that of ordinary people.

The aura she wore was clearly different from us ordinary people.

Even I, who is called a man who can't read the atmosphere by others, can only watch Mizuki-san's back from the corner of the classroom.

Just talking to her makes me nervous.

It's hard to talk to her because of the tense atmosphere she exudes.

"But I want to at least greet her. And then hear her reply 'good morning' in her beautiful voice.......!" (Kazuto)

People said that Mizuki-san is the best singer in the group.

And I strongly agree with that.

"Gather your courage, and try to greet her tomorrow morning...!" (Kazuto)

I don't have romantic feelings for her, but I want to be able to greet her as a classmate at least.

It had already been a few weeks since I had this with.

I'm too much of a slacker.

*Ping*.

A notification sounded from my phone.

It was from a voice chat application for a game.

The name of the message sender is "Rin".

[I've logged in ya know~] (Rin)

"Ah, already the time, huh?" (Kazuto)

The time now is 21:07.

The meeting time is 21:00, so I'm already late.

I was so engrossed in Mizuki-san that I forgot the time I was supposed to meet my friend.

[I'm sorry. I'll be in soon.]

I replied, then booted up my computer.

I started an MMO called "Black Plains", which boasts an overwhelming degree of freedom.

This open-world game with realistic graphics is a great web game that allows you to enjoy all kinds of role-playing, from battles to daily life.

One of its features is you can play it from smartphone.

By the way, my player name is "Kazu".

The origin of it is my real name.

My real name is Ayanokouji Kazuto.

In other words, I just took the first two letters of my name.

As soon as I logged in, I received a chat from Rin.

[I've been waiting for you~. It's been a long time, yes~] (Rin)

[It's been a long time? Haven't we met just last Sunday?] (Kazu)

[Then it's been a week! I've been looking forward to playing games with you all week, Kazu!] (Rin)

[Hey hey] (Kazu)

She's as excited as ever, The tension is high.

This player, "Rin", is a friend of mine from a web game that I've been friends with since we were in the second grade of middle school.

I'm in my second grade of high school now, so...... we've been friends for four years now.

I guess you could call us best friends on the Internet.

Well, maybe more than best friends, since we're married, albeit in-game.

At least Rin treats me casually and without hesitation.

[What are we doing today? By the way, I think I want to go fishing~] (Rin)

[I want to go to the mine to collect ore and improve my mining skills.] (Kazu)

[What are we doing today? By the way, I think I want to go fishing~] (Rin)

[Are you a bot!? My demand didn't even convey!] (Kazu)

[Let's go fishing.] (Rin)

[It's already a compulsion, huh.] (Kazu)

If that's the case, don't ask me "What are we doing today?"...

I'm not going to send it, though.

It's just a way to say hello to each other.

Rin also understands that.

We don't know anything about each other's real-life situations, but we've built up a certain amount of trust.

"I wonder what the real Rin is like." (Kazuto)

In the past, I had casually asked her about her real life.

But she said she didn't want to talk about real life, so I didn't pursue the subject any further.

She told me that she didn't want to talk about real-life because it would ruin the purity the relationship of us.

I understand what she means.

I know it's extreme, but if Rin actually was a yakuza, I'll uninstall Black Plains, destroy my computer, and thoroughly distance myself.

Well, anything is fine.

It doesn't matter to me who Rin is (as long as she's not a yakuza).

It's fun to play games together.

That fact is the most important thing ...

I enjoy playing games with her.

That fact is the most important thing......

[Hey, Kazu. Let's go out to sea on my boat.] (Rin)

[I don't want to, because it'll sink.] (Kazu)

[Why do you say that? It's absolutely gonna be okay!] (Rin)

[That's the third time I've heard that line. And I always have to help you gather materials to repair the boat.] (Kazu)

[It's going to be okay this time! I've been looking up how to operate a boat better on video site.] (Rin)

Rin, whose avatar dressed as a cute elf on the screen, showed guts pose with her fist clasped.

[I'm counting on you, okay? It's really hard to repair a boat you know.] (Kazu)

[Leave it to me! I feel like I can do anything right now!] (Rin)

And so, with such mysterious confidence, I followed Rin out to sea in a boat that was maybe a little bigger than a small boat.

If we got too far from land, we'll be attacked by pirate ships, so we had to be careful.

We stopped the boat and began fishing.

I enjoyed casually chatting with this friend of mine while waiting for any fish to bite.

[Hey Kazu. I still haven't heard your apology for being late.] (Rin)

[I'm sorry.] (Kazu)

[Why were you late?] (Rin)

[I was watching an idol music video.] (Kazu)

[Hee. So Kazu was interested in idols.] (Rin)

[Well, sort of.] (Kazu)

I replied, and then a few seconds of silence followed.

I was in a daze, looking at the fishing line hanging from the boat into the sea.

Rin didn't seem to be catching any fish either.

[What is the name of the idol?] (Rin)

[I thought we weren't allowed to talk about real life?] (Kazu)

[This time is different. So tell me.] (Rin)

Don't bite into it.

You're not a fish, you're Rin, aren't you.

[It's a group called Star☆Mines. Do you know them?] (Kazu)

[Yea.] (Rin)

[I'm a fan of Mizuki Rinka, so I watch them a lot.] (Kazu)

[Is that so.] (Rin)

[Yeah. I'm, actually in the same class as Mizuki-san you know. How's it, Isn't it amazing?] (Kazu)

I was a little proud of myself.

Then she stopped replying.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...... of silence followed.

This silence is the bad kind of silence.

And even though Rin's fishing rod was shaking, indicating that the fish was biting, Rin didn't seem to be catching anything.

Is she AFK?　

What, at this timing?　

It's too abrupt.

Did I say something wrong?

Maybe I shouldn't have boasted that I was in the same class as Mizuki-san.

[I'm sorry, Rin. I was in a good mood and said unnecessary things. I'm sorry if I offended you.] (Kazu)

I apologized for now.

I sweated my hands a little and moistened the mouse while waiting for a response.

The chat finally came back just as the fish escaped from Rin's fishing rod.

[I'm, Mizuki Rinka.] (Rin)

.........

.........Hmm?

[Haha. What are you saying out of the blue? I can clearly tell that it’s a lie.] (Kazu)

[Second year, third class. The homeroom teacher is Sato-sensei. The seat I'm sitting in is the second row from the window, the very front seat.] (Rin)

What flowed into the text window was information about Mizuki Rinka.

......Th, that's a joke, isn't that.

Those completely hitting right.

No, but it's not necessarily Mizuki-san herself.

It could be one of her classmates.

[Who is Kazu?] (Rin)

What should I do? Is it okay to tell her?

But I don't think "Rin" would lie to me.

If that's the case, then Rin is Mizuki-san......

[Can't you believe me?] (Rin)

When I was asked that, I felt a little guilty and my chest hurt.

I couldn't help but type in the chat.

[I'm the guy who sits at the back seat of the near window row.] (Kazu)

I answer a little blur.

Immediately, there was a reply came in.

[Ayanokouji Kazuto-kun, right?] (Rin)

[.....It's a bingo.] (Kazu)

Now, whether she's Mizuki-san or not, This made it more likely that Rin was a classmate of mine.

[I'm sorry. It's already time to log out.] (Rin)

[Okay.] (Kazu)

Rin disappears from the boat.

Was she disappointed to find out that it was me by any chance?

If so, I'm very very shocked here.

I shouldn't have talked about real-life if this was going to happen.

Oh no, although Rin had told me once.

That bringing real-life situations would distort the online relationship between us.

I should have thought more deeply about what that meant.

"I've done it....." (Kazuto)

What would I do if I couldn't play with Rin anymore?

When I was holding my head and regretting my shallowness, I heard a notification from my smartphone.

It was from Rin.

The content is, "Would you like to go to the cafeteria with me tomorrow during lunch break?".

Then I replied with, "Yes", even though I was shaking with nervousness.

What if it's really Mizuki-san?

It's not half bad, though.

......No, think about it calmly.

There's still a possibility that Rin is not Mizuki-san.

Because, "The bright and innocent Rin" and "The cool character Mizuki Rinka" have completely different personalities.

Yes, it's a fake. It must be a fake.

I'm sure one of my classmates is playing a joke on me.

*Ping*

I received another message from Rin.

The title is "I'll prove I'm real".

When I tapped to open the message, I found a selfie of Mizuki-san with a computer screen in the background.

I tried an image search on the Internet, but got no hits.

In other words, it wasn't a picture that she had picked up from the internet.

"Se-seriously? She is the real one...!" (Kazuto)

My hand holding the smartphone shook unusually.

I felt a small panic in my head.

"M-my wife in the web game is... a popular idol ...!" (Kazuto)