Chapter 752 - Promise
Her image color aside, her usually expressive face aside…
When it came to her complexion, she was a schemer who rarely ever lost her composure. Watching her turn away, her face undeniably beet red, Irori felt a not-insignificant amount of amusement.
"…And then there's an even simpler reason."
Even after baring this much of himself, he still didn't feel particularly embarrassed. The anxiety and fear that would normally, unavoidably, accompany the act of confessing one's feelings were similarly absent.
"I was won over. I grew fond of you. …You can phrase it however you like, but that's what it is."
As for why, that was simple.
"Because you were so exceedingly and obviously fond of me—I doubt there are many men who wouldn't waver when a top idol shows them affection, right?"
She would pester him boisterously, and he would just deal with her with an air of resignation. At least, that was the stance Irori maintained when others were watching. Mi-na, on the other hand, had always acted in a way that made it unclear if she even intended to hide her feelings.
Of course, considering her character of being 'friendly and messing with everyone,' it wasn't a particularly special behavior. But still, it was clear that, bit by bit, the color of the gaze and emotions she directed at him had changed.
And so, the girl who had been watching him had, at some point, come to occupy his heart.
"Since we're on the topic, let me ask."
"…………"
In that case, the one who first caught the 'sickness' was—
"When, and why?"
…the one who, to this moment, showed no sign of letting go of his captured hand.
"………………"
"I didn't intend to hide it completely, nor did I think no one around us had noticed. At the very least, among the current top ten, more people know than don't."
He didn't know what her intentions were in acting that way. But if he were to venture a guess… it probably had to do with her way of being.
The most comfortable place in the world. Comrades like family, whom she could trust more than anyone in the world. It was she and no one else who had wished for things to be that way and built those relationships.
For someone like that, the option of hiding her own heart was never on the table from the start.
To act so blatantly that even Irori himself could see right through it was, frankly, a bit too unguarded, or perhaps just a case of throwing caution to the wind. It was simply baffling…
Well, it couldn't be helped.
It was because she was that kind of person that he had fallen for her.
"…You know."
"What is it?"
"…You're saying some pretty incredible things, do you realize that?"
"To some extent. I am, after all, asking the person I just confessed to not for a reply, but without a shred of doubt, 'what part of me did you fall for?' It's quite a masterpiece, isn't it?"
But that was precisely what had given Irori the opening to look at her in the first place.
"……………………Haaaaaaah… I can't talk, you're just as confident."
"Perhaps we're birds of a feather after all."
"Absolutely not. Our vectors are way too different. Give me a break."
Give me a break, she says… he thought, a wry smile on his face as he wondered how to take that.
"…………………………………………I love my family. A lot."
Still holding his hand, still looking away, and still blushing, she began to speak. He listened quietly, so as not to miss a word from the object of his affection.
"My mom and dad—and of course, Ri-na-chan. And her mom and dad too. There weren't any particularly complicated circumstances. We're a connected family of complete strangers who just happened to come together through a miraculous coincidence."
"…………"
"I take after my dad. Ri-na-chan takes after her mom. And those two look so much alike around the eyes and stuff that you'd think they were brother and sister."
"But in reality, they're complete strangers, right?"
"That's right. Just like we've said publicly."
It was the first time he'd heard it from her own mouth. However, her unique upbringing, which made for a perfect idol backstory, was something that not just Irori, but fans all over the world knew about.
"Two girls, born on the same day, at the same time, in the same hospital, who looked so much alike you'd never think they had different parents. Our mothers hit it off and became friends while in the hospital, and when they were discharged and went home, they turned out to be neighbors. Even we're like, 'Does that kind of thing really happen?'"
"It's certainly a story that's more than one in ten thousand, that's for sure."
"Well, there are billions of people in the world. I guess that kind of thing happens."
A girl who had walked a life path that was not just bright and happy, but also exceptionally rare, with not a shred of darkness.
"We were already look-alike babies, and from the time we were born, our two families raised us to be close like sisters, so… well, we ended up like sisters, you know?"
"…Even so, the resemblance is like something out of a joke."
"Right? My mom and I still laugh about it, like, 'It's totally hilarious.'"
"Which mom?"
"Both of them, of course."
Her voice was gentle. And though Irori couldn't see it, he was sure her expression was just as gentle. The girl, recounting the story of her life that Irori also knew, seemed to signal that the preamble was over.
"Not only did I have a sister I was never supposed to have, but I had double the moms and dads, too. The total amount of love poured into me was way more than double the average person's."
"Sounds like a wonderful thing."
"Right? —And that's why I became greedy."
Her crimson eyes finally turned to look at Irori.
Her cheeks were still flushed red. Her small frame, which seemed almost ridiculously so for her age, was belied by the mature look in her eyes.
"Friends, comrades, you know? A little bit of that stuff just doesn't satisfy me."
It wasn't an apology, nor was it self-deprecation. It was simply a proud declaration of who she was.
"It has to be something like best, best, best, best, best friends, or it's no good. I don't like it. It's not enough. I'm not starving for it, but my standards for love and affection are all messed up… a super cute, tragic monster—that's the super cute Mi-na-chan!"
"…Why did you say that twice?"
"Because once isn't enough to describe how cute I am!"
The girl's astonishing confidence came from being raised with the unstinting affection of her four parents. …And, judging from her earnest personality and care for others, from having worked tirelessly to polish herself to be worthy of that love.
Oh, he knew. Of course he knew.
"That's your 'ideal'… and that's why, isn't it?"
"That's right. Isn't it an annoying story?"
"…It is. Incredibly selfish and extremely annoying—a willful girl to whom everyone in the current Eastern Faction's top ten, myself included, who finds the atmosphere pleasant, should be grateful."
If it was going to call itself a Utopia, Arcadia, then it should have a place to belong that was no less than reality. If there wasn't one, then she would just create it. A simple motivation, just like that.
At seventeen years old… and when she first visited this virtual world, a mere fourteen. Even if she was already out in society in a special position, for a girl that age to achieve her willfulness made her, without a doubt, a remarkable and abnormal being.
She loves people, and wants people to love her. A very difficult little girl.
"That's why the circle of rankers is special to me. Everyone is so super nice that they put up with my stupid willfulness, and at the same time, they're all such characters that there's not a single boring element. I loooove them all—that's why I went after the new training freak with all my might."
"…………I see."
"I charged at you, assuming I was going to love you. I rushed you, assuming you were going to love me. With my full, complete, whole-hearted, all-out power, to understand you deeply and become close friends."
"Just what I'd expect from the one in charge of energy."
"And then what do I find but that this idiot is suffering from a love so pure, so passionate, so heavy, it's embarrassing just to watch."
"………………"
"I looked into you deeply, deeply, and to be shown something like that… I couldn't handle it."
The heat from her left hand was intense.
"I was surprised, you know? I was taken aback, you know? I was impressed, my heart was pounding…—and I became envious, you know?"
The deep, deep emotions she had accumulated since they met…
"I thought, 'This guy is amazing. I can't believe there's a man out there today who can love one person so devotedly.' I thought, 'There's someone who, even though he's given up on his own, can still work so recklessly for the sake of the person he loves.' …………And for a person like that, you know?"
…she spoke of them bashfully, as if they were precious treasures.
"If a person like that were to 'love' me,"
He probably hadn't been able to see past the surface to the temperature of the heat in the depths of her heart.
"I probably wouldn't stop at just 'loving' him, you know?"
With a face that was even redder, as if steam were rising from it—she returned his words with a triumphant smile.
"…There you go. That was the 'when' and the 'why'."
"…So, that's how it was."
"Yup, that's how it was. The super cute, top high-school idol Mi-na-chan had her first love stolen by the someone who was in love with Ui-chan."
"…………"
"It's a tough situation, isn't it? If Irorin hadn't been in love, I wouldn't have fallen in love either."
"………………"
"So no matter how I struggled, I could never be 'first,' and that someone was so stupidly devoted it made me fall for him, so I didn't think he'd ever look at me."
"……………………"
"It was like, 'What is this artistically tragic unrequited love?' It was so bad it was almost funny."
He gently reached out his right hand, and the girl neither avoided it nor brushed it away.
And the palm that caressed her cheek—was secretly wet by a virtual tear.
"…Ugh, I seriously, had no idea. Irorin, you're amazing. You're not a model, you're an actor. I wouldn't have known, I wouldn't have noticed, wow… I'm so mad right now…"
"…………I was hiding it, but I didn't think I had hidden it completely."
"Your reactions and stuff were, well, a little softer than at the beginning, but…! Your fundamental attitude and responses didn't change at all…!"
"That's what happened when I made a conscious effort to behave in a way you would like."
"You're right about that…! It was fun, and I was happy, you were spot on! But because of that, I fell so deep into the swamp that I was like, 'Okay, I can't hide this anymore'!"
"…………………………What am I supposed to do? Give me a break…"
One girl, whose emotions had finally burst forth, crying her eyes out. And one man, with zero experience in dealing with such things.
There was no way to smooth over the situation other than to clumsily pile on more words.
"………………We can't date, can we? You're a top idol."
"……,…………"
She nodded.
"Are the preparations for your retirement, the ones you mentioned before, going smoothly?"
"……"
She nodded.
"Even after that, jumping into something right away isn't a good idea. If you want to be sincere about the position you've built, even if you're letting it go, you should give your fans time to prepare themselves."
She nodded.
"And in the first place, there's the age gap… I'm an adult, and you're a seventeen-year-old high school student. There's a chance we'll hear… well, unnecessary comments that we can't ignore."
After a brief pause, she reluctantly nodded.
"So, um…………Can you wait… three years?"
Her nodding ceased, and the fingers gripping his left hand tightened.
"……,…………That was the plan from the beginning, wasn't it?"
"That's the textbook definition of a dissatisfied face, isn't it?"
And not only did he get the expression, but he also received a sharp pinch on the back of his hand.
"—Two years."
"…………"
"My birthday is next month. So in two years… and two months, I'll technically be twenty—an adult."
"…You were planning to retire from being an idol at the same time as your high school graduation in March, weren't you?"
Like a child, she nodded.
"That's still long. I don't know if I can be patient…"
Seeing that face, he couldn't bring himself to say 'that's my line'.
"……………………Alright. Then, for two years and two months, we'll both wait."
"…Ugh, for once, I resent the virtual world's time acceleration technology…!!!"
As she let out a curse that was likely one hundred percent serious, he couldn't help but let out a relaxed smile—and then he let the hand that had been held all this time slip away.
"It's alright, don't worry."
He placed both his hands on her lovely cheeks, as if to soothe the hand that tried to cling to him.
He bent down, kneeling, to meet her gaze, to reflect each other in their eyes.
"Unfortunately, I wasn't devoted enough to dedicate my entire life to one person."
"…………"
"But I'm aware that my feelings are heavy enough to fall under what someone might call 'stupidly devoted'."
"…What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I'm not so heartless a man that I would lose sight of a love that I know will be fulfilled just because of something like 'time,' whether it's two years, three years, or ten years."
"…………Heh, heh… what's that?"
And so, a smile finally lit up her tear-streaked face.
"Wait patiently. I'm sure it'll fly by."
"Are you saying 'patiently' with full knowledge of my character?"
"Correction. Wait while being moderately lively."
"………………………………I guess I have no choice. Really… no choice at all."
Promised a future where her love would be fulfilled, the girl let one last tear fall, and then…
"Hey."
"What is it?"
"Say it, one more time."
"…………Haaah."
"I didn't ask for a sigh…!"
She reached out with her small hands.
While pinching the cheeks of her infuriatingly handsome beloved's face,
"I love you—In two years and two months, I want you to be my girlfriend."
…she willfully requested it a third time.
"I love you too—……I'll be waiting."
In exchange for the feelings she had now surely received.
Without hesitation, she entrusted her heart into his hands.