202 – Captain’s Secret
The captain’s house was in Suginami Ward.
It is a town that takes about 40 minutes by train from Minato City, where the school is located.
I visited Suginami Ward to bring home a printout for her homeroom teacher, Matsuda, who was absent from school today.
“It’s not too different from Setagaya.”
In fact, it is unavoidable that the composition of residential areas is similar unless it is a downtown area.
Usually, Ogikubo is considered a hotspot in Suginami-ku, but it is a downtown area with a large shopping center and Don Quixote, so it was good for young students to meet up with friends and have fun.
From an otaku’s point of view, what comes to mind when thinking of Suginami-ku is the concentration of famous animation producers.
Walking through a densely populated residential area on a gentle hill, exchanging lines with the class president, I finally stopped in front of a house.
‘Is it coming in almost a year?’
After sending a message to the class president that I had arrived, I rang the doorbell next to the front door.
Ding-dong!
“Yes!”
What came through the door was a cute voice that was completely different from that of the class president.
Knock!
Soon after, the front door opened and what came out were two children who looked very much like the class president.
“Brother!”
“Brother!”
“Hello.”
I crouched down in front of the front door to meet the two elementary school students at eye level.
But because of my height, it still didn’t match my eye level.
“What about Ayase?”
“Your sister is lying on the bed!”
“Brother! Come in!”
The two children said that while grabbing my arms one by one from each side and pulling them straight.
As I followed the torch into the house, I saw the class president who was just coming down from the second floor.
“Cough! Cough! Are you here?”
“Are you feeling better?”
“Good enough.”
Contrary to what she said, her complexion looking pale, she looked at her two younger brothers clinging to my arms and said with a softened expression.
“Don’t worry too much about Kim coming after a long time.”
“No!”
“Ryu oppa likes us too!”
“Yes, yes. I like it too.”
I listened to the complaints of the two children and asked the class president.
“Did you eat dinner? I stopped by the mart just in case.”
When I said that and showed her the cooking ingredients in her bag, the class president raised her eyebrows and said incredulously.
“Just give me a print and go.”
“My friend is sick, so I can cook for him. He also serves my younger siblings, right?”
As I said that, I looked at the two children who took both hands. The two younger brothers agreed, perhaps because they knew the taste of the meal I was cooking.
“Yes! Friends can do that!”
“Brother! Cook me fried rice!”
“…You guys.”
As the class president looked at me with a stern expression, the two children quickly hid behind my back.
She shook her head from side to side as if she couldn’t stop seeing that figure, and the class president coughed while wearing her white mask, she said.
“Come up to my room first. Since you’re a guest, I’ll give you some tea.”
“Well, excuse me.”
After saying that, I spoke in a kind voice to Ayase’s two younger brothers, who still held on to the hem of their trousers and refused to let go.
“I’ll talk to Ayase and come down right away to make dinner. Do you want to hang out together?”
Then the two children, as if reading the mood, immediately let go of my trousers.
“Yes! Okay!”
“Should I come down sooner?”
After patting the heads of the two wonderful children, I followed the class president upstairs to the second floor.
***
At school, the class president’s image is an honor student.
Big round glasses, neatly braided pigtails, and even a 2:8 hair part, which is almost a natural monument these days.
But I know her true identity.
Because in her freshman year, through her ‘accidental chance’, she found out that the image she shows at her school is fake.
Click!
“Come in.”
I was involuntarily amazed when the tightly closed door opened and I followed the class president into her room.
“Wow. It’s still here.”
Generally, when you think of an honor student’s room, you think of a simple image with a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf with books you enjoy reading.
Or maybe the class president is a girl in her prime, so you can imagine a pink room with a twisted charm.
But her room was distinctly different from the two previous cases.
Firmly closed windows, blinds pulled all the way down, and even soundproof walls made of expensive sound-absorbing materials.
During the broadcast, two computers with LED lights flashing fiercely greeted guests today with their lights turned off.
The class president, who had set aside the broadcast mic that was too large to get in the way, asked, brushing her tousled hair behind her shoulder.
“So what do you like to drink?”
Ayase Satsuki.
A 17-year-old active high school girl.
At school, she was acting as an honor student, but the reality was Luna Minazuki, a popular virtubber who was doing well on the net.
***
Vertuber.
To be precise, it is an abbreviation for Virtual YouTuber.
In the otaku industry, its history is not long, and it is only recently that it has become popular, but Luna Minazuki appeared on the market early and built a huge fandom to the top among such virtual YouTubers.
510,000 Subscribers.
Considering that the indicator that Internet broadcasters start earning more than regular office workers is around 100,000 subscribers, it was a fairly large number.
I came to know her identity by pure coincidence. I watched a video of her shorts called Kirinuki (切り抜き) on the recommendation of Satoru, who is sensitive to fashion. When I asked if I was the same person as Minazuki Luna just in case, she misunderstood my intentions and secretly talked about how she would keep the secret, and we became close.
Well, it wouldn’t be strange if it was such a thin book, but it’s a healthy love comedy worldview.
“Thank you, I’ll have a good drink.”
After receiving the cider that Satsuki took out of the mini fridge in her room, I said that and sat down on the floor.
In contrast to me, Satsuki, sitting in a large gaming chair used for broadcasting, asked with a frown on whether he still had a headache.
“So what did you come here for today?”
“I told you via messenger earlier. Matsuda told me to bring the printout for today’s Chi class.”
“…Ah, I did.”
Satsuki nodded as if he had belatedly remembered, and took the print I had just taken out of my bag and threw it on the desk.
“But why didn’t you call the school?”
“I wasn’t in the mood to do that. My mom and younger siblings left early in the morning, and I was sick and lay on the bed all the time. To be honest, I’m still barely awake.”
Satsuki said that and touched her reddened face with the palm of her hand.
“If you’re tired, why don’t you lie down on the bed?”
“I have a guest. How are you? I’ll lie down when you go.”
Satsuki said that and stubbornly rejected my invitation.
“Anyway, I’m in the worst physical condition right now. Broadcasting took a break without notice, which caused trouble to the people in the company in many ways.”
From noble mtl dot com
The appearance of worrying about broadcasting even while sick is truly a professional broadcaster.
Well, since you’re doing it to earn money for yourself and your younger siblings, you can’t help but be desperate in many ways.
I stood up after quietly listening to her grumble.
“Then I’ll go downstairs and prepare dinner, so lie down for a bit. Your complexion is really bad right now.”
As I said that and pointed at the bed with a wink, Satsuki, who had been hesitant, let out a small sigh and said:
“…Thank you. For being considerate.”
“Something like this between friends.”
“Dude… it was.”
Muttering exactly what I said, she got up from her gaming chair and quietly got into bed.
I took a wet towel from the basin by the bed and placed it on her forehead.
“Then rest. I’ll call you when dinner is over.”
Hearing my words, Satsuki nodded and fell asleep with a relieved expression.
It seems that he still has a lot of cold body aches.
I waited until I could hear her comfortable breathing, then I turned off the lights in the room, closed the door quietly, and went down to the first floor.
***
“Brother! Are you having dinner now?!”
“Right. Do you want something to eat?”
“Then I’m a hamburger!”
“Hamburger? Do you have any ingredients?”
The ingredients I bought are at most green onions, carrots, and onions.
It’s a typical ingredient for vegetable porridge, but to make a hamburger with this, you had to literally create something out of nothing.
I opened the refrigerator just in case, but unfortunately, there were only eggs and canned mackerel in the empty refrigerator.
I don’t know if there’s even an emergency retort hamburger, but I don’t even have one….
I was about to tell Satsuki’s brother that I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have the ingredients, but I shut my mouth to a cooking cartoon that suddenly came to my mind.
‘Maybe?’
I took out my cell phone and hurriedly searched it.
And compare recipes found on the Internet with ingredients currently in the kitchen.
‘I can do this.’
Gaining confidence, I spoke to Satsuki’s younger brother, who was looking up from below with twinkling eyes.
“Wait a little. Brother will make it delicious.”
While saying that, what I took out of the refrigerator was canned mackerel, which can be easily found at home.