Chapter 9 | Comiket Date, Woman of Memories

At the end of the year, I am participating in the Winter Comiket at the International Exhibition Hall.

Half an hour after the start.

“Yeah…! Haa…! Haa…! Oh, it’s finally over…”

“Good work, Rika.”

Matsumoto Rika, a gal in my class.

Today, she was supposed to help me sell my doujinshi.

Next to me, Rika was slumped over.

“3,000 doujinshi gone in 30 minutes. I’m dizzy, the turnover was too fast.”

Then… a giant man appears.

“Ya-ya, Shinji-kun’s girlfriend, thank you for your hard work~”

A big man like a terminator talks to Frank. [TLN: I don’t know who Frank refers to here.]

Next to him, a beautiful woman of Russian descent smiles and offers Rika a drink.

“If you don’t mind, here you go♡”

“Ah, uh, um…thank you…no, thank you, Gutenmorgen…?” [TLN: Gutenmorgen is good morning in German.]

Rika flinched at the Russian beauty.

“It’s okay. Tanya-san speaks and listens to Japanese very well.”

“Oh, I see… thank you.”

Rika receives a cup of tea from the beautiful Tanya-san.

She is drinking rapidly.

I tell the two helpers.

“Thank you both for your help!”

“Oh, well, we’re having fun too, aren’t we, Miss?”

“‘Ehhh. Cosplay. It’s fun ♡”.

This beautiful cosplayer Onee-san was also helping me sell my doujinshi.

Rika, who had finished her drink, asked me.

“Who is this Terminator and this Russian beauty, Shin-chan?”

Oh, I remembered that Rika had never met them before.

I introduce them to her.

“These are my acquaintances. Saburo-san and Tanya-san.”

“Hi, I’m Terminator.”

“I’m Atago, the handsome one from the ship collection.” [TLN: Yes, that Atago]

The big guy is Saburo-san.

The Russian beauty in cosplay is Tanya-san.

“What kind of connection do you have?”

“I know them from my parents’ family. They have known each other for a long time, and since they both have otaku interests, they have been helping out at the circle for a while now.”

Saburo-san smiles at Rika and smirks at her.

“By the way, Shinji-kun? Could she be your girlfriend over there, the steady one?”

“Huh!? Eh, eh~…”

What should I do?

We don’t have to fake our relationship outside of school…

“Hey, come one, Saburo. It’s not your business.”

Tanya-san stops Saburo-san with a smile on her face.

“No, but hey, ……! Don’t you care? Hey! It’s Shinji-kun, you know? If he has a girl with him, you know!  I’d be curious to know if he’s already done it or not?”

“Private, enough with that. That’s rude.”

“Tsk.”

Rika is silent, probably because she just met them.

And then…

“Hello, Sensei.”

“Ah, editor… hello.”

A tall, smiling, suited man appears.

Rika looks at him with a puzzled look on her face.

“Who is this guy?”

“He’s from a publishing company.”

“Shi ~yu……!?”

He laughs and bows his head.

“Nice to meet you, young lady. My name is Okaya.”

Okaya-san bowed to Rika.

He must have thought she was related to the circle.

He took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Rika.

[TAKANAWA Books Editor, Mitsuhiko Okaya.]

“Takanawa… is, um! Digimas?”

Despite Rika’s surprise, Okatani-san says to me.

“Sensei, could you think about it? Kaida-sensei is planning a new work next year.”

“Kaida-sensei? Eh, is [Senmoshi] ending?”

Senmoshi is a popular novel series that has also been made into an anime.

No way, it’s ending…

“Off the record, please.”

“Of course!”

“So, I’m thinking of asking you to illustrate our new series.”

An illustration job for a popular novelist’s new work.

I’m honored, but…

“I’m sorry, …….”

I bowed my head.

“I do doujin activities and drawings as a hobby. I’m not interested in commercial work.”

“I see. I am very sad to hear that.”

Okaya-san has already published several books.

“If you change your mind, you can contact me anytime.”

“Yes, I will. Thank you very much for your purchase!”

“Yes, well then.”

With that, Okaya-san left.

“Phew… I’m so nervous~… Wait, Rika? What’s wrong?”

Rika looked at me with a stunned expression.

“Shin-chan… you were at a level where you could get the attention of the publisher… amazing!”

“I’m honored, but I’m sorry. I’m just doing it as a hobby.”

“Oh, really… it’s such a shame.”

“Really? It’s fine as long as I’m having fun. It’s just a hobby, you know?

After that, I was asked to sign sketchbooks and sign autographs.

By midnight, all the books had been sold.

Saburo-san looked at the situation and said…

“We’ll take care of the rest and clean up afterward, so Shinji-kun, go on your date with Rika-chan.”

“Itterashai~”

Leaving Tanya-san and the others in charge, Rika and I leave the circle space.

Behind us, a latecomer says in a disappointed voice.

“Oh, no! You’ve already sold out?”

“That’s right, I’m sorry.”

“I see… as expected circle [Rika] is amazing~”

We left the space and walked around the venue.

“Where do you want to check out?”

“………….”

“Rika?”

“Oh, let’s see, show me around the venue for now. It’s my first time here.”

“Okay.”

I walked around the venue as slowly and carefully as possible.

Suddenly, Rika asked me something like this.

“Hey… Shin-chan. So the name of your circle…”

“Hmm? What?”

With a serious face, Rika says.

“Why is your circle name [Rika]…?”

When asked this question, I hesitated.

Because it touched on something in my past.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m fine. I’m very grateful to Rika for all the help she’s given me.”

I told Rika, who was walking next to me, about the origin of the circle’s name.

“Rika is the name of a dear friend of mine from elementary school.”

“! Eh, hehe… friend”

“Yeah. I was bullied when I was little. They were like Hanawa-kun and something like that.”

Growing up, I didn’t fit in very well with others.

Huh? Isn’t that still the case?

Wow, that’s kind of depressing…

“I didn’t have any friends in my class and I was lonely. Then there was a girl in my class who was very plain and quiet, and I felt sympathy for her, and we became acquainted.”

“…Heh, like that.”

Rika becomes silent.

It was more like she was thinking about something rather than being uninterested.

I continued.

“Her name was Rika-chan. She taught me about anime and manga. We had a lot of fun together. Now that I think about it, we must have had very similar tastes.”

The person I am today is influenced by Rika-chan, a girl I have fond memories of meeting in elementary school.

“Rika-chan changed schools in the middle of elementary school. Her parents got divorced and she had to go back to the countryside in Nagano, where her mother’s family lived.”

“! I, I see… as I thought…”

“As I thought?”

“Un. So then?”

I sighed.

“Both Rika and I were crying, and both of us were complaining. We didn’t want to break part ways. But we couldn’t change the school and couldn’t make a promise to see each other again, so we said goodbye to each other.”

After Rika left, I regretted it very, very much.

I wished I had exchanged contact information with her at that time.

“I was very much into my Otaku hobby after that, and under the influence of Saburo-san and Tanya-san, I became interested in Doujinshi. Then one day, I decided to draw pictures and make a Doujinshi.”

“…What was your motivation?”

“I don’t have much of a motive. It’s just…”

I say, thinking back to the past.

“I just thought that if I named my circle [Rika], I would be able to meet Rika-chan again someday here at the International Exhibition Hall.”

If I named the circle after a person, they might ask where it came from.

She was an otaku too, and I was looking forward to the day when Rika-chan would show up here and we would be able to meet again.

“That’s when I decided to start the Circle. And then the next thing I know, it’s just like now.”

“…I see.”

After that, Rika falls silent.

Rika, following behind me, asks in a whisper.

“…Did you get to see Rika-chan again after that?”

“No, not yet. There’s no sign of her coming at all… I wonder if she’s already forgotten about me.”

That’s sad, but perhaps it’s inevitable.

It is rare that I can remember the faces of my friends from elementary school until high school.

They are probably living happily over there.

Then, suddenly, someone tugs on my arm.

“I haven’t forgotten.”

Rika says to me with a serious face.

“That girl… is still thinking about you all the time. I haven’t forgotten you. Even after I moved, I’ve always wanted to see you.”

“Rika…?”

The way she said it sounded so sure.

Rika’s expression was serious.

It’s as if she’s speaking for Rika-chan’s feelings.

“I’m sure she’s here in Tokyo. Nagano doesn’t have many schools.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sure… she’ll meet you again. Definitely.”

Rika encourages me with strong words.

She pats me gently on the back when I’m depressed, having given up on the idea of seeing her again.

Oh, she’s so kind…

Otaku-friendly gals did exist…

“Thank you. I have hope.”

“I’m so glad.”

Rika said while looking away.

“By the way, What’s your Rika-chan’s last name…?” [TLN: This is Rika asking him, not the other way around.]

“Let’s see, I think it was, what was it?… Oh, yes. It was Kinasa.”

It was a strange last name, so I could remember.

Rika shed some tears…

“Eh? What’s wrong?”

“Uh-huh…it’s nothing…It’s just…I’m so happy…”

“Eh? Happy?”

Rika wiped her tears and mumbled quietly.

“…That’s my divorced dad’s last name. Matsumoto is my mother’s last name.”

“Eh, What?”

Rika shakes her head.

“It’s nothing. Come on! Let’s go on a date!”

Rika smiled brightly and grabbed my arm.

With a gulp, we move forward.

I’m not sure… but she’s in kind of a good mood?

I wonder what happened to her…?

Well, Rika is cute when she smiles, as I thought.

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TLN: NO WAY BRO, NO WAY HE DIDN’T HEAR HER MUMBLE. Anyways, I have hope in the author as long as he doesn’t drag this out unnecessarily. And yeah, we see Okaya for the first time here, check out that series too if you haven’t right here.

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