Vol. 2 Chapter 11 – Image Change (3)

“W-What are you doing…? And what’s with those clothes…?” (Reiya)

As I let out a cry of astonishment, he turned around with the jerky movements of a zombie.

A naturalist… or rather, a suspicious hippie-style fashion.

He had meticulously equipped himself with a wavy long wig and an untidy fake beard.

It was an appearance from the far opposite end of the spectrum compared to his usual T-shirt and jeans.

To put it more bluntly, he looked like someone who’d be campaigning for marijuana legalization in front of the station.

“This is… well… an image change, I guess… G-Gaia was whispering to me to shine brighter…” (Taiju)
“Taiju-san, I think that’s a little… no, quite mistaken…” (Reiya)

Thinking of his own good, I frankly pointed out his significant error.

“You think so…? Actually, I was starting to think that midway through myself…” (Taiju)
“Then why did you see it through…?” (Reiya)
“Gaia told me to shine brighter—” (Taiju)
“That’s enough of that.” (Reiya)

Minami-san, if you were to be introduced to a guy right now, it would probably be this.

“Anyway, why don’t we go inside? Wandering around looking like that, you might get reported as a suspicious person if you’re not careful.” (Reiya)
“R-Right… I’d like to, but… But hey…” (Taiju)
“But…?” (Reiya)
“Do you think Mizumori-san will think I’m weird…?” (Taiju)

…Now you’re worried!?

My cousin’s acquaintance’s older brother, who visits once every three days and eats a minimum of three plates of omurice.

He already had enough weirdness points to score a Haneman, and now he was worried about that…?

Looking at this guy made my own worries about a simple haircut seem trivial.

“Ichiru-san wouldn’t judge you just by your appearance at this point, Taiju-san.” (Reiya)

Because she already thinks you’re weird, regardless of appearance.

…Since I couldn’t say that, I rephrased it diplomatically.

“Really…? Think she’ll accept me even after I turned into something like the owner of a shisha lounge in a Kabukicho back alley…?” (Taiju)
“It’ll be fine… probably.” (Reiya)
“Then, the fact that I bulk-buy ear cleaning ASMR on DLsite is also…?” (Taiju)
“Please keep that to yourself.” (Reiya)

And so, the two of us, Taiju-san who had transformed into a marijuana enthusiast, entered the restaurant.

“Welcome~… Oh, it’s Reiya-kun. Welcome back~” (Ichiru)

Amidst the ringing doorbell, Ichiru-san, who had finished prep and was resting at a counter seat, turned towards us and spoke.

“Ah, you got your hair cut at senpai’s place.” (Ichiru)
“Ah, yeah… And Minami-san had a message. ‘I’m coming by soon, so introduce me if there are any good guys,’ she said.” (Reiya)
“Ahaha, senpai hasn’t changed a bit.” (Ichiru)

Laughing, Ichiru-san’s gaze slowly drifted towards my head.

Not good.

Before she gets any strange ideas… Go!

“Also, I bumped into a customer nearby, so I brought him along.” (Reiya)

I took a step back towards the wall, revealing Taiju-san (Main Tank) behind me.

“H-Hey… Hello…” (Taiju)

Shrinking his large frame, Taiju-san (Shinjuku Form) gave a nod.

Ichiru-san, witnessing this, froze with her eyes wide in astonishment.

She might be thinking I brought some kind of Northeast Asian shaman with me.

“Ah…! Taiju-kun…!?” (Ichiru)

After a few seconds delay, she finally realized who it was.

“Y-Yes! Asahi Taiju!” (Taiju)
“What happened…? Those clothes…” (Ichiru)

Ichiru-san’s attention (aggro) instantly shifted entirely towards Taiju-san.

As expected… no, he was fulfilling his role as main tank even better than expected.

With this, she probably wouldn’t mention my situation for a while…

“Th-This is… well… an image change, you could say… Since I was coming to Mizumori Ichiru-san’s place, I thought I’d go for a chill vibe with my fashion today… or something like that!” (Taiju)

What kind of borderline joke was that, I thought, but—

“Ahaha, what’s that~. Geez… Taiju-kun, you’re really funny~” (Ichiru)

Surprisingly, it was relatively well-received.

“Y-You think so!?” (Taiju)
“Yeah, I might actually start looking forward a little to what you’ll do next time you come.” (Ichiru)
“Then leave it to me!! I’ll surprise you even more next time!!” (Taiju)
“Eh~… Something even more amazing is coming?” (Ichiru)

Ichiru-san covered her mouth with her hand, chuckling.

I wanted to tell her to stop, because saying things like that might actually result in something truly outrageous appearing.

…But the atmosphere was kind of nice, so I managed to hold back.

Thinking back on my earlier conversation with Minami-san, it still felt like a miracle to me that Ichiru-san could laugh so naturally now.

That’s why I didn’t want to interfere with any happiness she enjoyed, no matter how trivial.

“So, is your order omurice again today?” (Ichiru)
“Yes! Please!!” (Taiju)
“Okay~. Well then, I’ll go make it, so Reiya-kun, go get changed.” (Ichiru)
“Okay.” (Reiya)

And so, thanks to the main tank, my change was, for the time being, not mentioned.

I headed towards the back of the shop and changed from my uniform into my uniform in the back room.

Finishing all other preparations and returning, Ichiru-san was just carrying the omurice over to Taiju-san’s table.

“Here you go.” (Ichiru)
“Thank you!! Let’s eat!!” (Taiju)

The freshly made omurice was placed on the table, and Taiju-san, spoon in hand, dug into it ravenously.

Since the evening hours had just begun, there were no other customers.

Ichiru-san sat down at a nearby counter seat as usual, entering chat mode.

“Speaking of which, I just found out a little while ago, but… Hikari-chan is amazing, isn’t she?” (Ichiru)
“Hm? Whah ish ih?” (Taiju)

Taiju-san responded, his mouth full.

“She won a tennis tournament, it was in the news.” (Ichiru)

Her smartphone screen, displaying the article, was held up for us to see.

The headline read, ‘Junior Japan Ranking No. 1 Asahi Hikaru Dominates Tournament! Wins Organizer’s Wild Card for US Open Juniors’.

“Ah, that? Well, it’s amazing, I guess… but it’s weird that she’s still playing in junior tournaments in the first place.” (Taiju)
“…Meaning?” (Ichiru)
“In terms of actual skill, she should have graduated from junior matches already and be playing lower-level tour tournaments, accumulating points towards her pro debut by now.” (Taiju)
“Eh!? But Hikari-chan is the same age as Reiya-kun, so she’s only sixteen or seventeen, right…? And already pro…?” (Ichiru)
“In this world, some debut as early as fourteen or fifteen. Considering her skill, it wouldn’t have been strange if she had been playing the pro tour around that age.” (Taiju)

Taiju-san stated this matter-of-factly while eating his omurice, not in a bragging way about his sister.

“Wow~… So she’s even more amazing than I thought…” (Ichiru)

Ichiru-san, on the other hand, looked impressed, her expression slightly surprised.

“What do you think? Reiya-kun?” (Ichiru)
“W-What about…?” (Reiya)
“That Hikari-chan is that amazing… Did you know?” (Ichiru)

She asked probingly, her tone somewhat significant.

“Well… somewhat… I heard from her directly…” (Reiya)

Since watching her previous tournament, I had researched and asked around a bit to understand her world.

Most of my knowledge came from Hino-san, but I understood her current standing.

“Ehh~… That’s nice~… I want to talk more with Hikari-chan too~…” (Ichiru)

She kept sending meaningful glances my way.

Apparently, she was telling me to bring her again.

However, I currently had my hands full just with school matters.

Having our current ambiguous relationship known by various parties wasn’t very desirable.

As I pondered how to answer—

“Speaking of which, she confessed to you, didn’t she?” (Taiju)

Suddenly, the main tank casually dropped a bomb, shifting all the aggro onto me.

The space around us froze at the words uttered so nonchalantly from Taiju-san’s mouth.

Ichiru-san stared blankly, her mouth agape with an expression I’d never seen before.

“Wh-wh-wh-what does that mean!? Confessed? Hikari-chan confessed to Reiya-kun!?” (Ichiru)

She shot up from her chair and lunged at me with incredible force.

“Whoa, Ichi… Ichiru-san!! C-Calm down!!” (Reiya)
“You said you were just friends before, when did you get into that kind of relationship!? Was I the only one who didn’t know!?” (Ichiru)
“N-No… It was pretty sudden for me too…” (Reiya)
“Stop making excuses and tell me!!” (Ichiru)

She grabbed my shoulders and shook me back and forth violently.

“Alright! I’ll talk! I’ll talk, so stop!!” (Reiya)

Resigning myself, I yelled, and her grip finally loosened.

“Haa… haa… First of all, how do you know, Taiju-san…?” (Reiya)
“How…? Because she reported it to me gleefully.” (Taiju)

Damn these popular type circles!!

“So, what’s the story behind how that happened!?” (Ichiru)
“What do you mean, how…” (Reiya)

As I hesitated slightly due to embarrassment, a sharp glare was directed my way, telling me to just talk.

“I’ll talk… I’ll talk, so please stop glaring…” (Reiya)

Judging further resistance to be futile, I explained the sequence of events.

From how I started playing games with her, to her confession on the day of the tournament.

Telling the full details in my own words in front of the two of them was extremely embarrassing.

“Wow~… So that’s what happened… Reiya-kun and Hikari-chan… Eh~… It’s really true… Wow~…” (Ichiru)

After hearing the story, Ichiru-san’s face flushed as if it were her own affair.

Trying to avoid scrutiny over my hairstyle resulted in having to spill absolutely everything…

“Ah, so that’s why you suddenly got stylish…” (Ichiru)

And that got exposed normally too…

It was just one misfortune after another.

Perhaps this was punishment for trying to use others as a convenient deception.