Chapter 2: She’s definitely an electronic fairy.

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Translated and Edited by: luccayn.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you're close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it's cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

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“I see, hmm, that was a disaster.”

Just as the clock was about to hit 10 PM, I was listening to a girl's refreshing voice through my earbuds.

I've been talking to someone almost every day. She's apparently a junior in high school, according to her, but I just can't believe it. I mean, just her sweet-tempered, holy voice is enough to envelop me as if in the arms of an older woman; an inexpressible sense of security fills me.

Looking at the screen of my PC while alone, I'd just finished complaining about the ice cream mishap that happened a few hours ago while shuffling a deck of cards in my hand.

“I know, right? I had it rough,” I answered, heart still warm from being healed by her kindness.

In short, as I walked back from school, a girl I barely know teased me to smithereens and got some ice cream. As a man, I should've probably taken this L with me to the grave, but she's such a good listener, I can't help but share my own inadequacies.

“There are girls like that, huh?”

“Yeah… I'm in trouble, really.”

Through the screen, I see a spread-out mat dedicated to cards, a testament to the good taste of my opponent. Her delicate, pale fingers collected her own deck in a brisk motion.

Over the past few years, TCGs, or trading card games, have transformed the way people play against each other. Nowadays, with the surge of the Internet, you could play against others online as long as you had a camera and the cards themselves.

She and I had just finished playing and were just casually chatting after our bellyful of card games.

“But, maybe that girl just wants to know you better, Kimota-san?”

“No way.”

I'm Kimota. Well, that's my nickname, at least. (T/N: Kimo is disgusting and Ota is a short version of otaku. That's what the ice cream girl called him at the store, but it's also his username online.)

I decided on this name while laughing and giggling with my friends when I first started playing TCGs. Oh well, guess this is what childish ignorance is all about. To tell you the truth, even after all these years, I still regret my poor taste in names.

Unfortunately, even if you'd like to change your username, it's tied to your user ID, which is imperative to participate in any of this game's official matches. Changing your username means losing your old ID, in turn losing all your ranks and points. For me, there are more disadvantages than otherwise.

Come to think of it, this girl's the first person to call me this stupid name without laughing. I was strangely happy when that happened since I was so sick and tired of everything related to it.

“There are quite a lot of girls that just can't be honest nowadays. It means what happened today was a chance for her to talk to you.”

Really? That's kind of a reach.

I didn't feel the smallest iota of an atmosphere between us. In the first place, would such a cute and bright girl like her want to be friends with me? Don't think so. I've been a nerd for so long, it's clear in my head.

But as always, this girl right here is a nice person. Her character is closest to perfection since she defends a total stranger like me, and I'm sure she looks the part. She definitely looks pretty as well, I can tell it from the sound of her voice.

“I wish everyone was as wonderful as you, Vanilove,” that's her username.

I've known this girl I met online for about two years now. At first, it was because I saw a post on this TCG's beginner forum requesting a teacher.

At the time, the player base was mostly people around 15 years of age, and about 90% of them were guys, so I just accepted that request without a second thought. However, the voice I heard through my buds that day was so dainty—and frankly similar to a character I liked at the time—that I was taken aback.

I've been a nerd since I can remember, and by that time I was already deep in, so I don't need to explain how the girls around treated a creep such as me, do I?

I had close to no contact with the opposite sex in my daily life. Our encounter came at such a time, so I was frankly elated. Truth be told, I even half-thought it was fate or something.

…Yes, half-thought.

My other half, the one that didn't misunderstand, scares me. Somewhere inside there is a calm self warning me not to do or think anything unreasonable.

To begin with, I watch and read too much anime and manga. Even if I had one of those “encounters,” there's no way in hell things would go well. Besides, I'm just me, and I wouldn't be able to do anything with a misunderstanding holding me back.

In hindsight, it was selfishly weak of me. Still, at the time I had thought, “Well, she's a girl,” and girls my age hated me, so I added two and two together.

I say that, but I wasn't bullied or harassed in any noticeable way. To be honest, I was afraid to try and understand what was behind their cold eyes, I just couldn't.

Girls scared me.

That's why my thoughts were filled with the words, “It's impossible.” Repeating them over and over inside my head, I tried to cancel it all.

However, when I told her I couldn't do it, she just gave me an honest, innocent question: “What's wrong?”

When asked, I naturally had a hard time and didn't like having to explain my position in such a pathetic, miserable, and realistic way.

After a few moments of silence, and due to her internet illiteracy, she spoke up. “Oh, I see. I guess I need to start by introducing myself. My name is—” If I hadn't stopped her from doing so, her private life would've been exposed to the internet…

And the internet is scary.

Having your personal information misused is terrible enough. Furthermore, there are a lot of dangerous peeps out there who'll harm you in a heartbeat if they find out you're a girl. That's why, if I don't tell her this now, she'll fall to the clutches of a perverted criminal in no time.

When I warned her about the dangers of dropping personal info online, she just asked me, “Why not?” —Again, this is bad.

I had thought the whole situation was troublesome. I felt bad for her, but I could sense I was almost walking into some landmine.

I could've forcefully ended the call and blocked her, but at that point, we'd already established some kind of a relationship—small as it was—and were no longer strangers.

“Okay,” I ultimately accepted helping her, to which she just answered with a bouncy “Yay!”

There was no way I could just lay it all out unfiltered, for it would defile her beaming innocence, so I struggled with the explanations. I did my best to wrap them in double or even triple blandishments.

After that, my honest efforts resulted in the following:
1 – Never show your face online and don't reveal personal information.
2 – All communication should be done via e-mail only.
3 – Your camera's position should be fixed, and the only acceptable angle is aimed directly at the top of your desk, where the cards would be at.

I firmly reminded her to adhere strictly to these three conditions. Since then, we've never seen each other's faces, but strangely enough, we get along well. We play together several times a week, all while chatting and doing rematches.

“W–wonderful, huh? …Aw, even if you praise me, nothing will come out of it.”

Her voice, bashfully loud, was like sweet honey to my ears. It even had a bit of sourness to it. Honestly, that reaction was worth a well-rounded 100. I hope that ice cream girl or whatever learns from her.

“If you keep saying things like that, someone might misunderstand.”

To make her stop sulking, I smiled and said, “Sorry.”

But still, you don't have to worry about that, Vanilove.

After all, as soon as you take a glance at my face, you'll cool down in an instant. Even if we have the greatest atmosphere, are fated lovers, or whatever else, I'm confident in it.

She sighs in exasperation at my confident statement, “Well, at least I think you're wonderful, Kimota-san.”

“…”

How many times has this happened? This bad girl, trying to make me cry…

But, what do you mean “wonderful”? Come on, you're a trillion-billion times nicer than me. You can even kill people out of preciousness.

To be honest, these sorts of moments with her have been my safe house. Without them, I would've been discouraged long ago in this “real world” where headwinds and stormy seas are the norms, as well as with today's ice cream incident.

She's my only oasis in this withered desert called reality. She extends my life as much as the peaches Sun Wukong ate. It makes me wonder if there are other people like her—wait, no. There isn't, thankfully.

Recently, I've been thinking about how I can throw money at this angel in order to express my gratitude.

“I–I'm not lying, ‘kay?”

“I don't mind if it's a lie. I'm happy,” I answered without thinking.

Still, there is a limit to everything. I was so taken by the preciousness of this situation that I was a little too blind to see what was going on around me. Even though it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, what I just said made her feel uncomfortable.

“…”

See? You've created a strange atmosphere because you try to say things you're not supposed to say, even though you're this insidious character of a person.

A strange silence divided us as if we were both looking for the right words to say to each other next.

Even if it's pure, even if you don't have any second intentions, you can't just say everything that comes through your mind. Every single thing has its place and time, and they're both completely wrong for my remark.

“Heh, he-heh…”

“Ufufu…”

My strange laugh and her shy giggles… Yeah, she thinks I'm weird. Oh, what an embarrassment. The grossness that was almost vomited out of my mouth was so thick, I almost started hyperventilating.

If there's a hole here somewhere, I want to throw myself in it. Oh, wouldn't it be better if someone just killed me as brutally as humanly possible?

What saved me from committing s*icide at any given moment was the alarm.

In the past, there have been several times she and I lost track of time during heated games, so the alarm is a measure to prevent it. She's a junior in high school and I don't want her to stay up too late, so when my phone starts ringing, it's time to call it a night.

Normally, I'd be sad to see the time go, but today, I almost gave the little thing a high five. Hmm, why? Well, it just saved my life.

“T–thank you very much for your time today,” she probably feels the same way I do.

Vanilove doesn't usually do it, but she waved “good night” with her hands as if running away somewhere. I tried to keep myself as calm as possible and waved my hand back at the camera. Needless to say, neither of us showed more than our hands.

“Same here. Thanks a million…”

How disgusting of me to use this cringy thank-you. It's uncool, really uncool. —Soon, the line went dead, and I was faced with a blacked-out computer screen.

“…What do you mean, ‘thanks a million'…”

I let out another big sigh.

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