Volume 1 - CH 9.1

9th Period: The Smile you Showed.

Two weeks have passed since she arrived.

“….” (munch munch)

At the dinner table. As I sat across from Ringo and ate my meal, I stared at her face while she silently chewed her rice.

“….”(munch munch)

“…”(stare)

“…”(munch munch)

“…”(stare)

“…”(munch munch)

So. Gosh. Darn. Cute.

Wait, that’s not what I mean. Well it is, but that’s not it.

“…Gochisousama” (TN Traditional thing to say after a meal in Japan)

After confirming that Ringo finished dinner and left the dining room, I called out to my childhood friend who was clearing the dishes.

“…Minori.”

“What do you want Kosaku? Seconds?”

“Later… can I go to your room?”

“? Hey, I don’t mind.”

“I have something important to tell you. A ….very important story.”, I say with a very very serious expression.

“…?”, she blinks her eyes three times. “Eh!!”

Suddenly she blushes bright red and starts taking deep breaths that sound like “Suuuuu. Haaaaaa.”

“OK, 30 minutes…. NO! One hour! One hour!”

“Huh? No, if possible as soon as you are done.”

“But! G..girls need to make a lot of preparations.”

“O..ok….Sorry…”

I was just pushed aside like that. I killed time by playing with the young master.

*********************

An hour later.

“C…come in, Ko-tan!”

Minori, who seemed to have just gotten out of the bath, greeted me in a bathrobe that was strangly sensual, instead of her usual jersey. She smelled of sweet and sour shampoo. And when I stepped into the room, for some reason she locked the door and told me “OK, it’s locked.” I said it was important, but I don’t need that much privacy.

“…Did you redecorate your room?”

“Yeah. ”

It was a strange sight. Minori’s room was filled with pink letters. ‘YES’ is what it spelled. ‘YES’ is on the cover of the futon. ‘YES’ was on the pillow cover. Wall paper, curtains, mugs, everything has the word ‘YES’ on it. Even the tissue box cover had ‘YES’ on it. What kind of decoration sense is this…?

“By the way, the song that’s playing right now. It’s called ‘Make it Easy’, ya know?”

“Is that so? It’s a nice song.”

I didn’t care about the song, so I just nodded agreeably. Minori was still smiling, but she was staring at me with eyes like those of a carnivorous plant waiting for an insect to jump in it. Well it felt like that even though plants don’t have eyes.

“Ko-tan, don’t be nervous okay? I’m in no hurry. I will wait as long as it takes. Why don’t you just get started at your own pace. By the way, the song that’s playing now is called ‘Soon’ (Hurry up).”

“? Is that so?”

Why does she keep telling me the names of the songs? Do you want me to help spread the word of your favorite bands? But Yuka-tan’s songs are a million times better than this kind of song where you don’t know what the singer is saying.

“B..by the way, Ko-tan… What’s the important thing you want to talk about? Oh! Should we take a shower first?”

“???”

Why did she need to take a shower to talk?

“O..or…”

Minori is getting very fidgety.

“A..after the shower… we can together…”

KNOCK KNOCK

There was a knock at the door.

“Oh, that’s Kei.”

“Eh?! Kei!?”

Minori seems too surprised to get the door so I get up and unlock it.

“It’s open.”

“I’m coming iiiiioooooohhhh!?”

The glasses-wearing pretty boy was violently shaken when he saw the interior of the room.

“You must be surprised. I told you I was redecorating.”

“Hmmm… ah. Ohh… I see…”

Kei walked inside cautiously, as if he was stepping into a minefield, and chose a spot as far from Minori as possible and sat down.

“K..ko…tan?”

Minori’s empty eyes looked at me.

“Um… the story, what is it…?”

“Oh yeah. It’s about Ringo-chan.”

At that moment… Minori’s body shook and lost all strength like a rapidly deflating balloon. She lay on the futon bedding and rolled up in it like a sushi roll.

“……sleepy.”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to sleep! I don’t know any Kosakus. Die!!”

“W..why are you suddenly in a bad mood?”

“You will be stabbed soon.”

“Kei, I don’t know what she is talking about.”

I don’t understand! I just don’t understand!

“Ahh jeez. Just watch this, both of you.”

I put my laptop on the desk, turned it on, and started up the blu-ray player to play the disc.

“Thank you! Now it’s time, let’s go to ‘Cordless Telephone’! Let’s sing together. ♪”

On the LCD monitor a super cute idol was singing with a microphone in her hand. The song is ‘Cordless Telephone’ which is a million seller hit. It’s a novel love song where Kana Nishino expresses her feelings of sadness because she lives far away and can’t meet her boyfriend, in the form of a long phone call late at night.

“Ah, this is Yuka Kusakabe’s live performance? Eh, I mean Kinoshita-san, singing live on stage!?”

“What?! T..this is Kinoshita?”

Minori and Kei brought their faces closer to the monitor with surprised expressions. Yuka-tan in the screen had a refreshing smile, which I had never seen in person.

Countless fans from all over the country (who all resemble Omori-san) sang along to her song. The mixed chorus shook my heart like it was an concert speaker.

Oh! What effort and friendship! Otaku are open minded people!

“Both of you! Look at me, with your tear-filled eyes!”

“Kinoshita-san… is wearing a blue, exotic outfit.”

“The light from the light sticks that the audience waves in time with the song sways from side to side like stalks of wheat fluttering in the wind, as if walking on a golden meadow…”

‘…And hark, a person garbed in a blue robe shall descend into the golden field.’ Ohhhh! The old saying was true…!

“Uh… Kosaku. What is this?”

“Yuka-tan’s live blue-ray, ‘Sweat is pouring out of me! Yuka-tan’s first summer vacation in high school on the Miura Peninsula; 8 hours of continuous performance covered with her god songs. A sea of friends Super Live Concert! My Big Summer!’”

It’s the last and one of my favorites that escaped erasure because it was in my disc drive. I threw away the package and the pre-order bonus…

The song entered the interlude and the audience steadily heated up. Hard-core otakus who have been well-trained like an army give a charge to Yuka-tan on stage with their perfect synchronicity.

“Yeeeeah, yeah! Yeahyeahyeah! Shyeaaah! Shyeeaah! Aaaaaaaa yeah! Allright! Zyaaaaaa! Tiger! Fire! Saber! Fiber! Diver! Biber! Jya-Jya! Super cute Yuka-tan! Hi hi hi Yuka Yuka Yuka Yuka!! Oooh Hi! Oooh Hi! One more time let’s GOOOOOOO! Tiger, Fire, Saber! Diver! Biber! Jya-Jya! Super cute Yuka-tan! Chape! Ape! Kara! Kira! Rara! Tousuke! Myokong Tousuke!”

I have no idea what they are talking about, but I can tell that it’s something great.  Is it the cheering? The ‘Otage’ (an industry term) sang in chorus again. The show ended in great success.

“Thanks yoooou! And, thank yooooou!”

Yuka-tan waved at the audience. So cute!

“Hoooo ho hoa! Hoaaaaaa” “Yukataaaaan!!” Look at meeee! Marry meeee!”

After 8 hours of the live show, the fans were sweating and crying and shouting for the happy moment to continue forever.

“I love you aaaaall!”

The end.

I cried!

And because of this legendary live performance, the venue (Miura Peninsula) where ‘Hakkeijima Sea Paradise’ is located became a sacred place among fans. It came to be called ‘Yuka-tan Peninsula’ (TN Note: This is a pun referencing the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico) … I cried.

“By the way, did either of you notice anything while watching this?”

“The otaku are disgusting”

Don’t say that! NooooooOO!

“No, not the audience, I mean the protagonist. Look at Yuka-tan!”

“Hmmm.”

Kei once again turned his attention to Yuka-tan on the screen.

“Well… it’s only natural, but she’s quite sociable. I can’t believe this is the same person as Kinoshita.”

“I know right. She’s got such a pretty smile.”

“THAT’S IT!”

“Huh?”

“The smile, the smile! She hasn’t smiled once since she came here!”

“….?”

While tilting their heads, the two looked back on their memories of the past two weeks.

“If you say so… I guess.”

“I’m preeetty sure I’ve never seen Kinoshita laugh.”

“Right? Right?”, I say to Minori and Kei to add momentum.

“Kusakabe Yuka was known as a transcendent healing idol who never stopped smiling, no matter how disgusting her fans were! That was Yuka-tan! The Yuka-tan here hasn’t laughed even once and I’m concerned as a representative of her fans!