255 Framed (2/2)

”Is that your honest opinion?” Seiji detected something abnormal.

Hoshi’s smile froze over slightly. ”The drama club president... is rather unique, and the vice club president... is a little scary. Wakaba-senpai... and many other members seem to really enjoy seeing me wearing female clothing...”

‘I knew it!’ Seiji’s cheeks twitched.

”The club atmosphere is indeed nice, but... I think I may need some time to get used to it,” Hoshi said sighing.

‘It’s really difficult to get a job class change. Good luck, former literature club boy.’

...

Kaho Miyamoto was feeling slightly melancholy.

No, melancholy was the wrong word to describe it... she wanted to say that she felt some indescribable subtle sense that something must have gone wrong somewhere, as if something were troubling her.

She could still clearly recall everything that happened yesterday afternoon, but even so, today she was unable to believe that she made friends with one of the most popular and beautiful girls in class just like that.

But thinking it over more carefully, she was friends with Harano-san already, so it seemed only normal to become friends with the beautiful girls by his side as well?

No matter what, she already promised Uehara-san… no, Mika, to help her understand and enjoy otaku culture.

How should she go about doing this?

Kaho spent the entire afternoon pondering this question. In the end, she decided to have Mika watch various top-notch anime in each genre and have her write down the characters and storylines that she was most interested in.

The goal was for Mika to learn her own preferences, or what her sweet spot was.

Everybody enjoyed different things and found different things interesting or funny. It was common for two otakus to have different preferences or even opposite opinions.

Even two people that enjoyed watching the same anime might argue fiercely because of different ways they viewed a specific character, and there were obviously plenty of examples of people being in ”factions” supporting various characters. People that didn’t understand might view this as rather strange, but this was quite common in otaku circles.

Mika needed to first recognize her own preferences before she could enter the otaku world.

”I understand—I’ll absolutely do my best, Kaho-sensei!” was the double pigtailed girl’s reply.

‘I already said to stop calling me Sensei!’ As Kaho recalled this memory, she wanted to retort just like how she did when she heard it.

Kaho felt an itchy feeling at how Mika was accepting her advice and taking it so seriously. She hoped that Mika would be able to find her own likes.

Just as Kaho was thinking this, her cell phone rang. When she looked at the caller ID, she saw that Mika was calling.

”Hey, Kaho, I already know what type of character I like now!” Mika’s voice was bright and peppy.

”Oh, what type is it?” Kaho asked.

”Many types… first, the open and gentle handsome boys.”

‘Princely handsome boy characters… isn’t this just Harano-san?’

”Also, tomboyish, friendly, and lively beautiful girls.”

‘A common female character type… isn’t this Wakaba-san?’

”Also, I like young girls that like to act spoiled.”

‘Loli characters… this is rather common.’

”Also boys that are really cute and look somewhat like girls.”

‘Trap characters… they aren’t so common in real life.’

”Also girls that are really cute but easily get embarrassed or maybe lack self-confidence.”

Kaho was rendered speechless by this point.

”Yes—” Mika showed no signs of ending her monologue ”—I like all these types of characters. Whenever I see such a character in an anime, I think it’s more interesting.” Mika finished as if she were concluding a report.

‘Mika… she’s probably the type that unconsciously overlays the people she knows in real life on the anime characters.’ Kaho made such a judgement.

”Then what about storylines?” Kaho asked. ”Do you know what type of stories you enjoy?”

”Stories… I think I really like the school romance type.”

'Yep, just as I expected.'

”Now that you know what you like, I’ll recommend some manga in this category to you,” Kaho said. ”I’ll give you a few to start with, and apart from that, you can find more of the same genre on the internet.”

”Yes, Kaho-sensei!”

”I said to not call me Sensei!”

This type of retort was becoming a habit for her.