The idea of giving me something like a matchmaker’s role, linking Shido and Yoshino together to make the date go smoothly... when I first heard it, I was a little, no, a lot taken aback. But once I actually thought about it, it seemed like a pretty good plan.
From Yoshino’s perspective, Shido was still just a complete stranger she’d never met before. On top of that, Yoshino was a very timid Spirit, so from Ratatoskr’s point of view, sending someone she was at least somewhat familiar with—me—along with Shido to help ease her guard, then having me act as the bridge between Shido and Yoshino, seemed like a pretty solid idea. At least, that’s what they thought. And what I thought too.
There was just one thing both Ratatoskr and I had overlooked.
“Her favorability is 70?! Seriously?! Why!”
“You didn’t know that either!?”
Yoshino’s favorability toward me was way higher than I’d expected.
No, more importantly, how high even was 70 favorability?
“If it goes up by just 10 more, it’ll be at the level where she can be sealed safely. For reference, Tohka’s favorability when she was sealed was 82.”
“I’m really, really, really sorryyyyyyyyyyy!!!”
Right from the start, everything had gone completely sideways, and I bowed so low in my heart it was basically a grand apology.
“No choice. Things got a little tangled, but we have to keep going like this for now. Shido, proceed with choice ③ as planned.”
“...W-What...?”
Suddenly, Shido stumbled back onto his rear and muttered in disbelief. Yoshinon, who had been quiet until then, asked what was wrong, and since I also had no idea what choice ③ was supposed to be, I could only look at Shido with a puzzled expression.
A moment later, Shido sprang to his feet and planted one foot on a chair displayed in a nearby store.
And then.
“Hmph... who might that be? I’m just a wandering drifter passing by...”
The way he swept a hand through his hair in a reluctant voice made even me, standing beside him, feel embarrassed for no reason.
“Puh... puhahahahahahaha! What is that~? Lucky Pervert-kun, are you some kind of comedian~? Ahaha, though I doubt there are any comedians these days who’d say something like that~!”
It was a pretty embarrassing line, but apparently it was hilarious from Yoshinon’s point of view. Watching her shake her head wildly as she burst into laughter, I just kept silent with an expression I couldn’t even describe.
“Can I back out now?”
“Just wait for now. We’ll decide when you can step in.”
At the voice coming through the intercom, I quietly answered that I understood.
“Wow~, anyway, I didn’t expect to run into Lucky Pervert-kun and Haneul here~. Ahaha, people like you are always welcome~. Everyone in this world seems to hate Yoshinon. Every time I get dragged into this world, they keep attacking me~.”
“AST are a bunch of idiots, yeah. I almost got attacked once too.”
“Ohh~ really? Wow~, Haneul, you’ve had it rough too~. So are we comrades now?”
When I answered like that, Yoshinon burst out laughing. Through the intercom, Kotori was calling Yoshinon a cheerful Spirit, while also badgering Shido to talk to her more like I was doing.
“Um... Yoshinon is your name, right?”
For reference, I had already told Shido that Yoshino and Yoshinon were the names. When Shido asked that question, Yoshinon went, “Huh? Did I tell you my name?” and Shido added that I’d told him.
“Ah~ Haneul already told you? That’s right! Just like that guy said, Yoshinon is Yoshinon’s na~me. How is it? Cute name, right?”
“R-Right... It’s a cute name.”
Shido nodded with a reluctant voice, clearly overwhelmed by Yoshinon’s sky-high energy. Then he turned to me and asked whether my name was cute too, and unlike Shido’s awkward reaction, I matched Yoshinon’s energy and answered, “It’s suuuuper cute!”
“Then what’s your name~?”
“Ah... M-My name is Shido. Itsuka Shido.”
“Shido-kun, huh~. That’s a cool name. Well, not as good as Yoshinon’s, though~.”
Yoshinon’s energy seemed a little hard for Shido to keep up with, because he gave a small wry smile and thanked her for what she said.
“Hmm, so the doll’s name is Yoshinon, and you are—”
“Ah.”
At that moment, a warning beep sounded through the intercom in my ear.
“──I have no idea what Shido-kun is talking about... A doll? What are you saying right now?”
“──Shido, the Spirit’s favorability is dropping rapidly! What the hell did you just say?”
The instant Kotori’s words came through the intercom, Yoshinon slowly leaned toward Shido, radiating a strange pressure. Her voice was still gentle, but the atmosphere around her had turned icy.
For a moment I shot Shido a look that said, “What the hell did you just say!?” but then I realized I’d made a mistake of my own and muttered, “Ah, crap...” under my breath.
Right. Before I came down here, I’d only told Shido that her names were Yoshino and Yoshinon. I never once told him that he absolutely could not treat Yoshinon like a doll.
Realizing I’d screwed up, I hurriedly opened my mouth to fix the situation.
“Hey, what are you talking about? Yoshinon is Yoshinon, isn’t she~? Shido, you’re such a prankster~”
As I jabbed him in the waist with my elbow and winked several times, Shido must have caught on too, because he quickly changed the subject and said, “R-Right~. Yoshinon is Yoshinon~.”
“Aww~, Shido-kun really is a prankster~.”
Whether my quick save had worked or not, the pressure that had been there a moment ago vanished in the blink of an eye. Yoshinon waved a hand with a playful voice and said that, and seeing that she seemed to have calmed down, I murmured “Thank goodness” in my heart and let out a sigh of relief.
“Nice assist. You must do this kind of thing a lot?”
“I haven’t.”
I answered Kotori’s remark like that.
“Ahem, cough. Yoshinon? If you don’t mind, why don’t you chat with Shido here for a bit?”
“Huh? With Shido-kun?”
“Shido’s interested in you, and he wants to go on a date with you. If you don’t mind, would you humor him a little for my sake too?”
Things had gotten a little tangled at the start, but that didn’t mean I’d forgotten the role I was supposed to play here. The reason I was here was to connect Shido and Yoshino and make the date go smoothly. On top of that, I also felt like I was doing something like NTR to Shido, so I might as well work even harder.
As I naturally brought it up and made the suggestion, Yoshinon waved her tiny hand and, with even higher energy than before, said sure.
Shido looked at me with a slightly startled expression, but after my “You were going to kiss her anyway, right?” he lost his words and just lowered his head.
“I think it’s a little weird that her favorability is higher than Shido’s, but the work itself is going surprisingly well, don’t you think?”
And through the intercom, Kotori added that I was pretty good at this, sounding impressed.
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