CH 46

46 - The true identity of Kiyokawa Ayane ⑤

It seems that Rinka won't be logging into the Black Plains today.

It's not surprising, right? Since it's a weekday.

"Let's go mining!" (Kazuto)

Controlling Kazu, I go mining by myself. (PTW/N: He always went mining... He must be having a powerful GPU.)

In my room, it's a simple task of clicking the mouse.

Then, a "Masked☆Aaya logged in" notification appears in the chatbox.

She immediately sends me a message.

[Kazu! What should I do?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[What's wrong?] (Kazu)

[I told that guy...... my secret!] (Masked☆Aaya)

[What secret?] (Kazu)

[Sorry, I can't tell you that! But it's a secret that will change my life forever.] (Masked☆Aaya)

......sounds like a really terrible situation.

In order to find out more about the situation, I typed in a chat.

According to what Aaya-san told me, that man had been following her all day, and he had found out the secret she had been hiding from everyone.

The secret was something that would change Aaya-san's life drastically, and she must not let anyone find out about it.

And so, she went to the man's house, prepared for her end, and explained the secret to him.

......Something stuck in my head.

[And what's going on now? How about this handsome guy?] (Kazu)

[Nothing much. He was kinder than I thought, or rather, he accepted me as normal.] (Masked☆Aaya)

I don't know what exactly Aaya-san's secret is, so I can't say anything about it.

However, I can tell her one thing.

[Be careful. A good-looking man will show his sweet face at the beginning to catch a woman off guard and then eat her.] (Kazu)

[......I guess that's true.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[I'll tell you my story, there was once a girl who promised to marry me. But the next day, she was holding hands with a handsome guy and making out with him.] (Kazu)

[I see........ That's tough.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Yes, it was very painful. I even caught a fever and had to be bedridden the next day.] (Kazu)

I can still remember that day. From that day on, I recognized handsome guys as my enemy.

[By the way, how old was Kazu at that time?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Five.] (Kazu)

[......What?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Around nursery school age.] (Kazu)

[...... Aah.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Ee, what? Are you trying to tell me something?] (Kazu)

[No....... Age has nothing to do with love, doesn't it?] (Masked☆Aaya)

Somehow, Aaya-san's reaction is subtle. It's not relieving.

[Anyway, you should be careful with that handsome guy.] (Kazu)

[I wonder if I should. But no matter what I said, the guy never made any attempt to harm me......] (Masked☆Aaya)

[I told you, it's a trap!] (Kazu)

[Mmmm. If he was going to do anything, I would have had it by today.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Then, the aim must be to raise Aaya-san's likeability!] (Kazu)

[I don't feel like that by the way....... The guy was just a natural.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Maybe it's his own way of hitting on women!] (Kazu)

[Mmmm. If I think about it calmly, it's more likely that he's a good guy because he's the kind of guy my senior fell in love with.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Calm down! You're being deceived too, Aaya-san!] (Kazu)

[I wonder about that. Ah, the guy doesn't seem to be a lolicon. I heard from my senior that he has always had a tendency to be fond of children.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[You handsome jerk! You're not just hitting on women, but you're hitting on kids too!] (Kazu)

[I've heard that men have always had a tendency to be fond of children, and I wonder if that's true.] (Masked☆Aaya)

Not good. This is not good. Aaya-san is starting to open her heart to the handsome guy!

After all, handsome guys are to be feared!

After that, I keep trying to persuade her, "Don't let yourself be distracted by that handsome guy!" I try to persuade her, but to no avail.......

[He listened to my words and improved his relationship with my senior, and I don't have anything to complain about anymore. He's always been straightforward with me.]

I came to this conclusion, she says.

It seems that Aaya-san had finally accepted the handsome man.

[By the way, how about Kazu'side? You know, that awful girl. She's a junior, right?] (Masked☆Aaya)

She seemed to be referring to Kiyokawa.

Looks like she's trying to change the subject, but I guess that's fine.

[Actually, there's been a development on my side as well. I had a talk with my junior girl today.] (Kazu)

[Hmm hmm. And?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[......She was a girl with a huge gap. I'm just using this as an analogy, I thought she was a stubborn gal at first, but she turned out to be a dead-serious neat and tidy girl.] (Kazu) (PTW/N: ゴリゴリのギャル [gorigori no gyaru]; I'm not so sure.)

[Holy cow! Isn't she a real mess.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[No, I asked her about it and she said she had no choice.] (Kazu)

[Heeh. Ah, but she was stalking you, wasn't she?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[That's more likely due to my fault too.] (Kazu)

[What's wrong, Kazu? Have you been deceived by that junior girl? She's starting to get on my nerves.] (Masked☆Aaya)

She may be right.

I've learned a lot of things about Kiyokawa in one day.

To be honest, I'm filled with a desire to support her. I might even become a fan.

She's too sincere.

Originally, she was extremely shy and wanted to be a novelist, but she turned to an idol...... and established her popularity as a neat and tidy idol.

In addition, as the leader behind the scenes, she also manages the other members. It's really a lot of hard work.

Furthermore, to protect the image of the neat and tidy idol at school, she was having lunch in the lavatory.

[Yup. She's not a bad girl after all. She's just a hard worker who's desperately pursuing her dream.] (Kazu)

[No, no, no! Calm down! She's been treating you like a womanizer and stalking you at school, isn't she!?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Ah, the misunderstanding about the womanizer thing has been cleared up. So it's okay now.] (Kazu)

[It's not okay at all! Then what about she was stalking you?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[It could be considered as protection, if you think about it. I mean, the famous people have bodyguards and stuff, right.] (Kazu)

[You're too positive!] (Masked☆Aaya)

After that, Aaya-san adds, "Kazu is mistaken! I don't know the details of the situation, but that woman is definitely dangerous!" She keeps saying things like that, but it didn't reach my heart......

[I guess we can get along somehow from now on.]

I've come to this conclusion.

So, now I want to be friends with Kiyokawa in a natural way.

[Kazu is a pretty simple guy.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Huh? If you say so, then Aaya-san is a simple woman as well.] (Kazu)

[Huh?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[Huh?] [Kazu)

A touch-and-go situation. We're on the brink of arguing.

[Kazu hates handsome men too much, to begin with. Not all of them are bad. The handsome guy my senior is dating is a good person.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[I think it's true that there are some handsome men out there! But that guy is dangerous! Because he's going out with a girl who looks like Rinka!] (Kazu)

[Isn't that, just jealousy.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[I'm not jeealous!] (Kazu)

[......you made a typo there, you know? You're upset, then.] (Masked☆Aaya)

Haha, I am jealous?

I'm dating a real Rinka, you know?

How in the world can I be jealous?

That's why, this is a――――murderous intent.

[Aaya-san treats my junior girl like she's a bad person, too. That's also a terrible assumption.] (Kazu)

[No, she definitely is, isn't she? He treated his senior as a womanizer and stalked him at school.] (Masked☆Aaya)

[There's a deeper reason for that too!] (Kazu)

[Then, what's that reason?] (Masked☆Aaya)

[I can't tell you that because it's a special circumstance!] (Kazu)

[I don't get it!] (Masked☆Aaya)

Strangely enough――I'm mysteriously defending the person I was complaining about from the person I was asking for a confide.

I was defending my junior (Kiyokawa), and Aaya-san was defending that handsome guy.

What the hell are these uncanny exchanges?

[Well...... Umm, we've been through a lot....... I think it's time to do Daily Missions now?] (Kazu)

[Let's go!] (Masked☆Aaya)

The conclusion of the conversation is made.

In other words, we prioritized the game.

Well, I guess this is the right thing to do as a gamer.

Aaya-san and I exchanged complaints about real life while keeping our personal information to ourselves, and afterward, we play the game together.......

Isn't this one of the ideal human relationships?

Anyway, today's incident has definitely shortened the distance between me and Kiyokawa.

There will come a day when we can talk happily.

I have no proof about it, but I'm convinced.