Vol 1 Chapter 22 (2/2)

And then Arisugawa-san said:

“…Well then, as proof that we reconciliated, shall we take a pic together?”

“Excuse me…?”

She moved besides the puzzled Toujou-san and prepared the phone.

Toujou-san blushed when Arisugawa-san stuck to her shoulders so that they’d fit into the frame together.

“R-Reiko-sama…?”

“Please look to the mobile telephone.”

…Kasha—♪

“Kyaa—”

Not knowing what happened, Toujou-san s.h.i.+vered. Arisugawa-san directed the display towards her.

“Look, it’s a picture. The mobile telephone can also take these.”

“…My!”

When Toujou-san raised her voice—— the surrounding ojou-samas came rus.h.i.+ng by, surrounded them, and took a peek by themselves.

“It really is!”

“Even though it’s a telephone, why would it be able to do this?!”

“And…”

Arisugawa-san operated the phone.

Before long, Toujou-san’s phone vibrated.

Toujou-san was a bit surprised, but showed quick acclimatation nonetheless and opened the phone.

“…! This is…”

“I can even send you the pictures that we’re taking.”

“…Amazing…”

Toujou-san was gazing at photo of Arisugawa-san and her with their shoulders close to each other.

“Like this, commoners take photos with their friends and send them to each other.”

To this word ‘friends’…

Toujou-san slowly… raised her head.

Arisugawa-san’s soft and a bit uneasy smile was right in front of her.

“We are friends, right?”

In just a second, Toujou-san’s levee broke.

“Yes! Yes…!”

Tears ran down her face and she nodded many times over.

“I’m relieved…”

Arisugawa-san’s eyes teared up too.

Toujou-san checked her phone seemingly glad.

“I… will make sure to treasure this dearly.”

When Arisugawa-san gently embraced her, Toujou-san clung to her in return too, as if she couldn’t hold back anymore.

Everyone around them cried in sympathy and snuffled with handkerchiefs in their hands.

I also felt like my heart had been cleansed and expressed a truly relieved smile.

Then Arisugawa-san turned to everyone in cla.s.s and said:

“Please, everyone, let’s take pictures together!”

It had been the great climax.

“I’m sending it right away!”

“Next with me!”

Alternately pairing up, the ojou-samas took pics together here and there. Their excitement went almost through the roof.

“Commoners even have these wonderful things, don’t they?”

To us, it’s very rare to enjoy casual things like lazing around and the like that genuinely.

But I think that that’s the only big difference, that aside we’re pretty much the same kind of people.

Girl’s really like these things universally. Even I, when I had my first phone bought, was really excited and did nothing but taking pics with my friends.

…For a second, I missed my old school.

But that aside, it had been a big success.

Arisugawa-san had become the center of the cla.s.s, as before, and had her pic being taken many times over.

——Your plan was a huge success.

It just added a bit that, legally speaking, she should’ve been in there.

Then Arisugawa-san became aware of my gaze and in a flash, her face s.h.i.+ned.

“What about you, Kimito-sama?”

“Eh?”

“Let’s take one together, too!”

Everyone raised their voices.

“By all means, come here!” “I want to take one with Kimito-sama!”

“First of all, he should take one with Reiko-sama—!”

Toujou-san said.

“…I-If it pleases you…?”

Arisugawa-san asked bashfully.

“Ah, yeah.”

When I said this, she expressed the loveliest smile I had ever seen.

Around that time.

Aika was in her room.

Alone. Evening had pa.s.sed, her room had turned dark, and she was lying in her bed, face-down. She was reading the manga she had brought from Kimito’s room.

It was poor manners to read manga while in bed, but she was imitating commoners. After all, she was reading commoner manga as commoners would.

Earlier, she had eaten a sweet bar. The flavor was a bit strong, but not bad. Although it had been her first, it had felt like a taste she had yearned for.

These were club activities. Today she was doing them on her own.

It was comfortable, felt good, the manga was interesting, there wasn’t any problem whatsoever.

Suddenly… she realized the room had gotten dark, and Aika got out of bed, turning the light on.

The light of the incandescent lamp gently illuminated the gorgeous dorm room.

It was so silent, that she seemed to be able to hear the sound of the bulbs. While she looked up at the light absent-mindedly…

“…I wonder if it went well…?”

She muttered with her hair all wrinkled-up.

It was the result of a failed attempt on a flashy Gyaru hair style.

“Well, I don’t need it.”

She nodded with her hair still like that.

Her plan was perfect. As the creator, she had confidence in that.

Around now, everyone should be really excited and indulge in taking pics.

And in the center of it all, there would probably be Arisugawa Reiko.

Having her comeback as the popular person in cla.s.s, surrounded by everyone’s smiles, the same blessed girl as ever.

Thinking that, Aika…

The pure Aika who couldn’t lie——

“…I’m glad.”

Smiled with a very content feeling.

She was feeling good and happy about it.

“Come forth, King of Origin—— MENAS—!”

Imitating the manga, she stroke an [Avatar Summoning] pose.

But she got embarra.s.sed and crawled into the bed.

Translator notes and references

[1]According to a native, this describes 1) being in high spirits and 2) some flashy hairstyles. Google “Gyaru” yourself, if you want to know more. In America you call that kind of people “annoying women”. In general everything in the next few paragraphs is related to that sort of pop culture and various things follow that are hard (or impossible) to translate, deal with my improvisation.

[2]Furigana says “painstaking work”.

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