kscans

Chapter 415 - The Companion

I quickly tidied myself up and went down to the lobby, where, just as Madoka-san had said, two figures stood side-by-side.

One was a young lady with caramel blonde long hair and sparkling green eyes, fidgeting in an outfit different from our date the other day. It wasn't the indigo-haired girl I knew.

The other was an unfamiliar woman. I had thought for a moment that an enthusiastic Ashe might have gallantly escorted Nia here, but it seemed my guess was off.

She didn't seem to be her mother, either. Her stylish sunglasses made it a bit hard to get a read on her, but she was definitely around my age.

She was a feminine woman with light, flaxen-colored hair—dyed, perhaps—that suited her well. Her soft, gentle aura somehow reminded me of the young lady, Shijo.

As I appeared, the gazes of the 'young ladies' drifted toward me as if drawn by a magnet. I thought I should probably greet the stranger first, but...

She was the first to speak.

"—Hello there."

It was nothing more than a simple greeting.

"Ugh, h-huh... Ah, h-hello. Good afternoon...?"

But those two simple words were unbelievably 'heavy.'

Not because her voice was low or masculine, but... how should I put it? The amount of information it carried was just different from a normal voice.

"...Honestly, what are you frozen for? Come on, Nia-cha, say hello."

It was a sweet voice, like concentrated honey, yet it left no trace of cloyingness or unpleasantness in my ears, blowing past like a refreshing breeze.

Ah, this was... you could call it, yes.

It was a heroine's voice from an anime—just as my 'ears were getting assaulted' and I was spacing out, a soft, thin cloth was tossed at my face with a thwap.

I knew what the flying object was without looking. I had seen the pouting face that had taken a throwing stance with a scarf in hand.

And when I removed the cloth tangled around my face, what was shoved in front of me was—

'No staring at my best friend.'

—none other than the 'words' of the young lady, Liliania Vrubel, scrawled as a baseless accusation. I swear, I wasn't staring.

I might have been listening intently, though.

"Alright, alright, hello, Nia-chan."

'HI, HELLO!'

"So? As for your friend—whoa, hey, stop it! I'm not particularly interested, this is just normal for a first meeting!"

Her energy, or rather, her mood seemed off... but then again, that was normal for her.

The woman beside her, who this Nia-chan apparently called her best friend, watched her own 'best friend' start pummelling a man she'd never met before with an amused look, and then—

"I'm sorry. I don't believe I know your real name, but judging from my 'best friend' here... you must be Haru-san, correct?"

The eyes behind the sunglasses, their color indeterminable, turned to me.

This was a straight-up real-life identity reveal, but considering she had passed through Yotsuya's security and was inside the lobby...

"That's, right. Yes."

...it probably wasn't an issue.

Nia wouldn't bring a suspicious person with her, and Madoka-san, despite her gentle demeanor, wouldn't neglect her duties as the dorm's resident manager and gatekeeper.

The fact that she had been let in meant I could consider this best friend's identity to be guaranteed. With that judgment, I confirmed my in-game name. The woman stared at me intently for a moment with a somewhat serious expression, then—her face broke into a smile again.

"Forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I'm something of a childhood friend to this little troublemaker... Um............ If you would, please take this."

"Oh, thank you very much."

While casually fending off the 'troublemaker,' whose actions made it hard to tell if she was expressing displeasure or just playing around, I accepted the piece of paper she offered.

It was a stylish yet cute business card, adorned with a chick and a budding green branch. The name printed on it was————Mitsueda Hiyori.

Hmm...

No, unfortunately, I've never heard of her... Wait. Hold on, somewhere... Nope, I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue, but I can't recall.

Judging from the information written on it, she seems to be an illustrator... If she carries around business cards, could she be famous?

Then again, I've never really tried to remember the names of famous creators in the first place. I apologize for my lack of cultural awareness.

"...And so on. It's not just illustrations like the one on the card; I do a wide range of creative work, including voice acting and performance—My 'real name' is almost the same, but it's Saegusa Hiyori. The kanji for the surname is the same but read differently, and my first name is the 'Hiyori' from 'koharu-biyori' (Indian summer)."

"Real name... Huh?"

Just as I was thinking that, the presumably famous illustrator suddenly started dropping personal information, and I was stunned.

But while I froze, taken aback and thinking 'what is this person saying,' the woman—Mitsueda-san—just laughed cheerfully, unconcerned.

"You seem quite surprised... But as of right now, I'm holding the 'daily life'—the lifeline, you might say—of the [Acrobat] Crown-san, who is currently the focus of worldwide attention, you know? So, well, I thought I should at least offer the same in return. Please think of it as my own personal show of good faith."

"Good faith, you say..."

Judging from the stunned look on Nia's face as she stopped her rampage, this was probably her own decision. I understand what she's trying to say, but...

"As for a girl being careless, or the risks involved, I hope my credibility as 'her' best friend can make up for the fact that I can't quite match up to a ranker of Arcadia, a Title Holder-sama."

".................."

Well, what can I say.

There are a lot of things I want to say and comment on, but I guess I just have to accept it now—ah, so she's 'that' Nia's friend... I get it.

Somehow, the way she spoke, or rather, her intonation, was so similar. If you told me they were childhood friends who had grown up close, it would be infinitely persuasive.

In that case, maybe they're similar in their stubbornness and single-mindedness, too.

"In that case, uh... Mitsueda-san, is that alright?"

"By the way, my fans affectionately call me 'Hiyorin.' Nia-cha lovingly calls me 'Hiyo-chan.'"

"Got it. Nice to meet you, Mitsueda-san."

When I gave her a smile without any room for argument, she smiled back amusedly and,

"Yes. A pleasure to meet you, Haru-san."

—peeled her friend, who was still clinging to me in a daze, off of me, and began to scold her like an older sister, saying, "That's enough now."

---

Protagonist: "Never heard of her."

This guy briefly watched Hiyorin's stream before the Four Pillar War to study up. How dare he forget an existence as packed with tropes as an Archiver who is also a painter, idol voice actress, and illustrator (and a 20-year-old university student).