368 "Hidden Character" (1/2)

”Before I begin, I would like to call that other female classmate over as well. Knight of Ice and Fire, how would you like to face her?”

”My name will be 'Hiyoko,' no, let's go with 'Reiko' instead! I'm an otaku girl that got to know you all on the internet.” Yukari sent a sunglasses-wearing emoticon, and changed her username that was shown in the chat group.

”Alright, let's go with that, then.” Seiji agreed.

Then, he contacted Kaho, and invited her internet username, ”Lavender”, into the chat group, and introduced ”Reiko” to her.

”Hello, Lavender-san. You can just call me Reiko.” Yukari greeted Kaho.

”Hello… Reiko. You can just call me Lavender as well,” Kaho responded.

”With this, everyone that's going is here. And, what I have to say is about a 'hidden character.'” Seiji sent this message in the group chat. ”Actually, I have one more internet friend who wants to go to the doujinshi convention together with me, but she doesn't want to go outside, so she asked me to stream the convention event to her, and she'll be the only spectator… She's going to go along with me in such a fashion.

”This internet friend is important to me, and I agreed to her request. Of course, you'll probably be on my stream and she'll see you all.

”I wanted to tell you about her identity, but she doesn't want to let it be known, so… my apologies.” Seiji also sent an apologetic emoticon.

A moment of silence fell between them.

”It feels slightly unpleasant to only have us being the ones watched,” Chiaki said directly.

”I feel so as well, it doesn't seem so good,” Mika agreed.

”I… don't think it's good, either,” Kaho said.

'As I expected, they're not too happy with it,' Seiji thought to himself.

”Reiko, what do you think?” He sent Yukari a private message.

”I'm hiding myself as well, so I'm not in a position to say anything,” was Yukari's response.

”Then, overall it would seem that this isn't a particularly happy thing for anyone, and I sincerely apologize.” Seiji sent another apologetic emoticon. ”This internet friend of mine is truly important to me, and I'd like for her to be able to go with me in this fashion. If you don't wish to be seen by her, I'll take extra care to make sure the camera doesn't show any of you.”

”Rather than saying that I don't want to be seen, it's more that I'm not pleased about not being able to see her.” Chiaki sent an emoticon of eyeglasses flashing. ”If she doesn't want to go outside, that means she's probably a hikkikomori. And why is it that she's not willing to reveal her identity?”

”I don't know; she only said that she didn't want to,” Seiji responded.

”I got it! Seigo, this hidden character that you view as important to you, is actually your relative!” Chiaki sent a sharp emoticon of 'I've deduced the truth!'

”A famous detective has appeared!” Yukari widened her eyes.

”Chiaki… is amazing.” Mika sighed in exclamation.

”A relative… is that really true?” Kaho was curious.

Seiji was rendered speechless.

”I can neither confirm or deny.” After remaining silent for a while, he responded like this.

”I understand. Now, I'll mention that I don't mind being seen on the stream, and it doesn't matter to me either if she knows my name and identity.” Chiaki smiled.

”Is that really fine?”

”Yeah, although I think it's rather regrettable to be unable to meet this girl that you think is so important to you, Seigo. But, it's fine to have her know about me first.”

”Thank you, Chiaki.”

”No need to be polite.”

After Chiaki said so, Mika followed her lead said the same thing as well.

Yukari also indicated that she was fine with being shown on stream to this mysterious girl, but she purposefully didn't mention anything about her name and identity.

After some thought, Kaho also mentioned that she didn't object to being shown on stream, but said that there was no need to mention her name or identity.