kscans

Chapter 59 - Mary Tyler

"Mary-san. Thank you for what you did earlier."

After the stream ended, Hayate-sama spoke to me.

"Huh, what do you mean?"

Earlier? What did I do?

"When you explained the part about you being my fan, you acted all shy. Thanks to that, a lot of people believed it."

Oh, that.

When I heard that Hayate-sama had been brainwashed by a villain and had used a drug to knock me out, I proposed that story to protect him.

The one my papa explained on the stream, about me being a huge fan of Hayate-sama and that I would lose my composure if I realized he had saved me.

Well, it's not really a story. It's the truth. I really am a fan of Hayate-sama.

But my papa doesn't know that. I haven't told anyone.

"Hehe. You're welcome."

"But are you sure it's okay? It helped me out, but you've worked so long to build your image as a cool actress..."

He's worried about my career. This man is just so precious. I love him.

"It's for the person who saved my life. I'd do this much and more."

I respond with an air of composure, but if I let my guard down for even a second, I feel like I'll burst into tears right now.

My idol is talking to me from so close. I'm just too happy.

Come to think of it, when he came to save me, he held me in his arms just like Rena-san. He was brainwashed, but the fact that he held me doesn't change.

I'm glad it wasn't like that Hisato person, who was just watched until he got back on the ground.

Ah, I can't take it anymore. I want to just confess everything.

That I love you. That I've been a fan for so long.

But I know that would just trouble him.

Havate-sama should be with Rena-san. Someone like me shouldn't get in the way.

Speaking of which, Rena-san is glaring at me from a short distance away. She's probably worried I'll steal Hayate-sama from her.

She's so small and cute.

I could probably win in terms of style and whatnot. But that kind of cuteness is unique to Japanese people, isn't it.

I know full well that Hayate-sama dotes on Rena-san.

As a fan, I don't want to cause him any trouble. I've told myself that over and over again...

But as a fan, I can't suppress this feeling of wanting him to recognize me.

Just a little. I want to check if Hayate-sama has noticed me.

"I really love Japan. So I was happy to be rescued by a Japanese person."

"Is that so? If you ever come to Japan, we'll show you around. Right, Rena?"

"O, of course!"

So it won't be just Hayate-sama. Still, I'm happy because I've made a promise to see him again.

Can I think of us as friends now?

"Thank you. I'll contact you then. Also, I've taken a liking to Japanese tongue-twisters and have been practicing one recently. I want to ask my Japanese friends if I'm saying it right."

"Okay. Which one is it?"

"I'm not very good at tongue-twisters."

I hope they get the hint.

I touch the device on my neck so I can turn off the auto-translation for just the tongue-twister part.

"Um, here I go. 'Tonari no kyaku wa yoku kyaku kuu kyaku da!' How was that? Did I say it right?"

"You're not supposed to eat the customers, you know."

"It's persimmons, persimmons."

"And you made it harder to say by using 'kyaku' instead."

They're both laughing.

So this really works as a joke to make Japanese people laugh.

"I, I made a mistake."

"Sorry for laughing. Come to think of it, one of my oldest fans makes the same mistake as you, Mary-san."

"Huh?"

C, could it be...

"There's someone who comes to watch my streams under the name 'The Customer Next Door Eats Customers Well.' They've been watching me for a long time. At first, I thought they were just messing with me when I had to say their name as a greeting. It's just so hard to pronounce, you know?"

"You used to stumble over it all the time."

"Yeah. But just like Lena, they come to every single one of my streams, and as I tried my best to say their name, my articulation got better. Now I'm grateful to them. Wait, Mary-san? Wh, what's wrong!?"

"Eh?"

I realize I'm crying.

The truth is, I've been watching Hayate-sama's streams using that exact tongue-twister as my username.

I was just so happy that my idol recognized me. Though I'm a little hurt that he thought it was harassment.

But I was so happy when he said he was grateful.

That's it. I'll follow you for the rest of my life!!