Chapter 12: Aim to be a gal who is kind to otaku

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Translator: Soafp

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“Eh? A love hotel? What are you suddenly talking about!?”

Komori-san frowned and raised her voice.

But all I did was read the text that was displayed on the screen…

I pointed at her phone.

“You probably tapped the wrong thing.”

“Eh?”

When she turned the phone back toward herself, her face instantly turned red all the way to her ears.

“Hy—hyaaah!”

She let out a completely incomprehensible scream.

“Th-That's not it! I definitely didn't save that on purpose!!”

“…You don't even have a boyfriend. Why do you have a love hotel saved?”

“N-No, well… I mean… someday I might get a boyfriend, right? And if I do, I thought maybe I should find one with good food— Wait, why are you making me say this!?”

You're the one who just self-destructed. Why are you getting mad at me?

Still, choosing a love hotel based on how good the food is… what kind of standard is that?

Well, I guess it's not unimportant, but I couldn't help laughing.

She's quite the foodie, apparently.

“The place I wanted to go to is this one!”

Komori-san tapped her phone a few more times and shoved the screen toward me again.

Hopefully she didn't mess it up this time.

But when I looked at the store information, I tilted my head.

“Animate?”

Does she like manga or anime?

An unexpected otaku?

Well, she was originally an introvert anyway, so maybe it's not that surprising.

“Is there something you want to buy?”

“Not really… I just wanted to see it once. I've never been there before…”

Now that she mentioned it, I had heard something like that before.

Those kinds of stores tend to have the image of being full of guys, so shy female otaku often feel intimidated about going.

And with online shopping being so convenient nowadays, people don't really need to visit the stores themselves.

“I see. What kind of stuff do you like? Things aimed at women?”

“Huh? No, not really… it's more like…”

We kept talking as we walked toward the school gate.

“You know how ‘gyarus who are nice to otaku' have been trending lately?”

Wasn't that meme popular years ago…?

Also, hearing it directly from Komori-san — who dressed somewhat like a gyaru herself — felt oddly surreal.

“It's still a common trope in manga and anime.”

“Right, right!? Actually, when I decided to reinvent myself for high school, that's what I was aiming for!”

“…A gyaru who's nice to otaku?”

“Yeah! I do want a boyfriend, but those loud party-type guys are still a bit scary… So I thought maybe someone quiet, serious, and harmless would be better for my first boyfriend!”

Just because someone looks quiet and harmless doesn't mean they're automatically an otaku.

There were so many things I wanted to point out.

“So you're planning to become a gyaru who's nice to otaku in order to win over those otaku guys?”

“Honestly, even I don't think I'm 100% gyaru… maybe 70%? No, 50%? …Actually maybe around 25%.”

The percentage keeps going down.

Stop talking about gyarus like they're juice.

“Alright, I get it for now. But what does being a gyaru who's nice to otaku have to do with Animate?”

“Huh? Well, if you want to be nice to otaku, you need to understand them first, right?”

“…Do you?”

“Don't you know the saying: ‘Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated'?”

Apparently the otaku guys have already been categorized as Komori-san's enemy.

“I'm going to go to Animate and experience the otaku world firsthand! That way, even if some otaku guy pulls out something weird in class, I'll be able to handle it calmly!”

“You're already calling it weird. That's not being nice at all.”

“Th-That's why! If I get used to it, those kinds of prejudices will disappear, right?”

Her motivation already sounded full of prejudice…

But well, making an effort isn't a bad thing. In a way, it's broadening her horizons.

I tried my best to accept this version of Komori-san.

“Just so you know, there are way more hidden otaku than open ones. Especially in classrooms.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Of course. Otaku don't want to get called creepy for no reason. For example, I'm technically a hidden otaku myself.”

“Eh!? Y-You're an otaku!? So your room must be full of anime character posters and beautiful girl figures!?”

“Not that extreme… Besides, you've been to my room before.”

I still clearly remember how she sat there stiffly in seiza, frozen with nervousness.

“Ah, right. It looked normal.”

“I'm more the type who enjoys a wide variety of things rather than obsessing over just one. Not just anime — I like foreign movies too.”

“So there are different kinds of otaku. I learned something today.”

We were already heading toward Animate, but while talking with her, I realized something.

…There was no way she could become a gyaru who's nice to otaku.

“Komori-san, it's not too late. Let's just go eat crepes instead.”

“What!? Why!? Today or tomorrow are the only chances I'll have to go with you! And you're an otaku, right? That's even more reason you have to come with me!”

“Ahh, I was really looking forward to eating crepes with a friend for the first time in a while.”

“R-Really? F-Fukagawa was looking forward to it too?”

Oh, that worked.

Maybe I should push a little more.

“I'll take chocolate banana flavor.”

“You're assuming I'm paying!? …Though maybe that's cheap for a friendship fee…”

“I'm joking…”

Can this introvert mode of hers be turned off somehow?

◇

In the end, I gave in to Komori-san's insistence, so we ate crepes first and then stopped by Animate.

To be honest, it had been a while since I'd gone to Animate myself, so it was more fun than I expected.

But the most important person — Komori-san — was…

“It kind of smells weird… My head hurts… It's overwhelming… Everything's more expensive than I thought… There's so much stuff… And there's someone muttering to themselves…”

She looked completely drained.

For her, it seemed like stepping into another world.

“Being a gyaru who's nice to otaku… is way too hard…”

I honestly didn't know if that was something effort alone could achieve.

Not to mention whether it was even something worth aiming for in the first place.

“Hey, Komori-san.”

“What…?”

“You know, a gyaru who's nice to otaku might just mean a gyaru who's nice to everyone.”

Though whether someone like that actually exists, even I don't know.

“Eh? Really?”

“So whether someone's an otaku or not, you could just treat them normally.”

“Y-Yeah… but that's the hard part.”

“Hm? Why?”

“B-Because… I'm not used to talking to boys… I freeze up right away. But otaku usually have bad communication skills too, so they probably wouldn't mind if I can't keep a conversation going.”

First of all, drop that weird prejudice.

It feels like she's insulting me too.

“But you're talking to me normally right now. Don't tell me you don't see me as a guy?”

“It's not that… But now that I think about it, you're right. Why am I fine talking to you?”

Komori-san tilted her head.

It's not because I'm an otaku…

More likely because she had heard about me from Yuzuki before, so she naturally felt less guarded around me.

“Well anyway, are you still planning to become a gyaru who's nice to otaku?”

“Of course! I want a boyfriend too! You wouldn't understand since you've already had a girlfriend! When everyone around you talks about their boyfriends and relationships, and you're the only one who has nothing to say and just has to sit there silently—do you know how painful that is!?”

I couldn't say I didn't understand, but her approach seemed a little misguided.

“But now that I think about it, what does being nice to otaku actually mean?”

“Well… not bullying them just because they're otaku, not extorting money from them, not looking at them weirdly… things like that?”

“That's just basic human decency! Actually, that's straight-up violence!! Wait… why is this bringing back trauma? I wasn't even an otaku — why am I remembering middle school!?”

Komori-san groaned and held her head.

Was she bullied in the past or something?

I felt a little worried.

“Ah! I might have just come up with a genius idea!”

“What is it?”

“That's it! The reason it was so hard is because I tried going straight to Animate!”

“You're only realizing that now?”

“Huh? Wait, that's true? Then why didn't you say anything earlier!?”

“I did say we could just go eat crepes at first. But halfway through it seemed entertaining, so I kept quiet.”

“Fukagawa, you're an S, aren't you!? Y-You sadist! You enjoy watching people suffer!!”

“Hahaha,” I laughed exaggeratedly like a villain.

Komori-san puffed her cheeks like a child.

Wait, what is that expression? She can look this cute?

If she showed that face to other guys too, someone would probably confess to her immediately.

“So what's this genius idea?”

“I'll watch anime and read manga that otaku like! There must be a reason they like them, right? Maybe I'll think they're interesting too. Then my resistance will naturally go away!”

So basically she plans to become an otaku herself.

Though at that point she wouldn't be a gyaru who's nice to otaku — she'd just be an otaku gyaru.

“You said you're an otaku too, right? That means you must know something good.”

“Well, yeah. If you don't find it interesting, you don't become an otaku in the first place.”

“Then show me! Let's go to your house right now!”

“You want to watch it in my room?”

“Well of course. You probably have DVDs or something.”

I don't actually buy discs — I mostly watch through streaming services.

But whatever.

And that's how Komori-san ended up coming to my room for the second time.

I took out the tablet I use for watching videos and propped it up on the bed.

“What are you doing? Come over here.”

I lay down on my stomach on the bed first and lightly patted the space next to me.

For some reason, Komori-san's cheeks turned slightly red and she looked away.

“Ah, um…”

“Aren't you going to watch?”

“I-I will…”

—Ah. Only then did I realize.

Without thinking, I had invited her onto the bed the same way I used to with Yuzuki.

That could easily lead to a very strange misunderstanding.

But if I got embarrassed now, it would make the atmosphere even worse.

I had to act natural, like it was nothing.

“Come on already. I want to watch it again too.”

“O-Okay…”

Komori-san cautiously climbed onto my bed.

Then she buried her face in the pillow and turned only her eyes toward the tablet.

“P-Please take care of me… It's my first time, so… I'm a little nervous…”

Is she doing this on purpose?