With everyone’s eyes on her, Len opened her mouth.
"Hm? Ah, no, let’s just call this top secret."
I’d been curious about the bandages, so it was a little disappointing when she brushed it off with a sly joke like Yoshinon would.
It was rude to even think this, but as a human, I couldn’t help wondering why she was wearing bandages in the first place.
『Ha! She got you good! That’s what you call dressing yourself in mystery~! Your femininity is rising by the minute!』
"Y-yes... I think it’s cute."
"...So looking good is basic spirit etiquette, huh."
Watching the three spirits talk like that made me think that.
Come to think of it, even Rinne and Mayuri, who had been born not long ago, and the most recently born Maria, Marina, and Rio were all gorgeous spirits.
I didn’t know why, but apparently all spirits were nothing but beauties.
"You’re the one saying that, Hieta...?"
"No, I’m telling you, this body isn’t even my original one."
Itsuka-kun looked dumbfounded at my words, but this body wasn’t mine to begin with. It was a character from the game I made.
When I created characters, I usually made them good-looking unless they were some weird Hollow or other, so that’s how I made this one too. Who could’ve guessed I’d end up possessing it?
And then after clearing the ending a few times and grinding all the way to max level, I opened my eyes and found myself in this world.
In other words, my original face wasn’t all that handsome.
If I had to put it one way, I looked like some extra who’d just wandered by. In plain terms, I think I was uglier than Itsuka-kun, who looked like a pretty-boy gigolo.
Though, if you think about the fact that this world was a work of fiction, there was no way the presumed protagonist, Itsuka-kun, could be ugly in the first place.
"Ah, now that you mention it, yeah."
"That’s why I said it. Well, it’s not like I hate the way my original body looks."
I did feel a little envious, but I didn’t dislike my original body.
If I did, that would be denying my parents’ love, and basically denying the person I was while I lived with them.
With that in mind, I listened to the conversation between the three of them and one doll.
『As expected of a cool girl, she’s gotta have one or two secrets! So, so, what kind of secret does Natsumi-chan have~?』
The next target was Natsumi.
Thinking about how she’d been hiding her true form from the moment we first met, she seemed like the one with the most secrets here.
Whether those secrets were heavy or light, I had no idea.
"...Huh? Me? Well, I’ve got a ton of them, but..."
Natsumi trailed off there, fidgeting as if she was thinking it over.
"What’s wrong, Natsumi?"
"No, it’s just... now that I think about it, they’re all kind of pathetic secrets, or maybe they weren’t even worth keeping secret in the first place..."
So while everyone else had heavy secrets, Natsumi’s were comparatively light, which was why she hesitated to say them out loud.
"I think there’s nothing better than having a secret, though."
"...Maybe. But I’m the type to lie and dodge things more than other people, and I still don’t have any cool secret like that...?"
Sure enough, if you thought about Len, whose very existence was suspicious in the current situation, or Yoshinon, who was hard to tell apart from an actual doll, Natsumi’s secrets were probably light.
I didn’t know what kind of secret she had, but it was definitely lighter than anything tied to her identity.
Still though...
"Ah... so that’s why I’m not attractive. I couldn’t dress it up, my secret. Sorry for being naked..."
I didn’t want her spiraling into self-loathing right away.
As I’d said over and over, Natsumi had her own charm, and it was just sad to see her get trapped in that kind of self-destructive thinking over something as small as having lighter secrets than other people.
How much had she been looked down on for her to end up thinking like that?
"You know they say deep relationships start with sharing secrets... so I was alone――"
Snap!
"Ow!"
As Natsumi kept sinking deeper into self-pity and started radiating black energy, I flicked her on the forehead. She rubbed the spot and glared at me.
"W-what was that for!"
"You idiot. How many times do I have to say it? You’re plenty attractive, and you’re not alone anymore."
Natsumi was a spirit, so she was cute and pretty enough already.
On top of that, even when she grumbled, she still asked for things properly, and even when she hesitated, she went through with what she had to do. That was part of her charm.
Being a shut-in type could count as a charm point too, in its own way.
And around Natsumi, there were the mansion crew, plus Itsuka-kun’s side, and me too.
"Look around you. Right now you’ve got Yoshino, Yoshinon, Itsuka-kun, and me. We’re all your friends. Your connections."
"...Really?"
Still doubtful, Natsumi, I ruffled her hair hard and crouched down to match her eye level.
"So don’t say stuff like that. What’s the big deal about secrets? Something that small isn’t going to make your charm disappear. And honestly, I don’t think having no secrets is a bad thing either."
"That’s right. I like that Natsumi-san is honest."
"H-Hai... Yoshino..."
『Hai-kun’s right. Not just us, but Len-chan is here too, right~?』
"...Huh? Yeah, I’m here too. Is this how it’s supposed to go?"
With Yoshinon’s help, Len also comforted Natsumi, and after hearing all of us, Natsumi blushed and took a step back.
"W-what is this flow... this is kind of embarrassing."
"Go ahead and be embarrassed all you want. It’s the karma of your own self-loathing."
"What are you talking about, Hieta...?"
Itsuka-kun let out a long sigh at my words, but maybe it had helped Natsumi a little, because the black energy around her disappeared.
Relieved by that, I returned to Itsuka-kun’s side, and Yoshinon waved its arms and made Natsumi a suggestion.
『Why not tell us just one secret, even if it’s a tiny one~?』
"A small secret...?"
『A secret is a secret, even if it’s small!』
"O-okay. Then..."
Taking Yoshinon’s suggestion, Natsumi closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Then, as if something came to mind, she opened them again.
"I-I... sleep hugging the doll Hai bought me every night..."
"...Huh?"
If she meant the doll I bought her, then she was probably talking about the one she got when the three of us went out with Yoshino last time.
I’m pretty sure Yoshino bought a hat, and Natsumi bought a slightly dazed-looking green cat doll, but why was she hugging that while she slept...?
‘I do know some people can’t sleep unless they’re hugging something...’
"Out of all the things you could’ve picked, why that one...?"
"B-because... it was Hai’s first gift..."
"...I see."
Come to think of it, I’d never really given Natsumi anything like a present before.
I wasn’t the type to pay much attention to gifts, and nobody else seemed to particularly want anything either, so I’d just given it to her as a keepsake from our outing. I hadn’t expected her to treasure it like that.
"Th-thanks, I guess. But, Itsuka-kun... could you stop crunching popcorn next to Len-chan over there?"
I’d been wondering where that rustling sound was coming from, and it turned out Itsuka-kun, a little ways off to the side, was happily munching popcorn with Len, who had apparently pulled it out of nowhere.
"Ah, sorry. It looked fun."
"This popcorn stuff is tasty. Nice and savory."
"Haah..."
Itsuka-kun aside, I had no idea why Len was joining in over there too.
『Now then~! That leaves only Hai-kun, right?』
"Huh? Me?"
Startled by Yoshinon’s scheme to drag me into this, I asked back, and Yoshinon nodded while pointing at me with its tiny hand.
『Hai-kun’s got secrets too, right! Ah! Or should I say Miyuki-chan~?』
"Y-Yoshinon!"
"..."
Ah, I think I know exactly what that doll wants right now.
Miyuki was the alias I’d used when I was clearing Miku’s route, and now it had become the name used to refer to me whenever I was in a fully feminized state.
Since it had been dragged out here like this, I just stood there in silence, flustered, and Len tilted her head beside me.
"Miyuki?"
"Ahaha, it’s... a thing."
Itsuka-kun, who knew perfectly well what Miyuki meant, only gave an awkward laugh without telling Len the truth.
He had his own outrageous Shiori form, after all, so he wasn’t about to spill the beans about Miyuki either.
"What’s Miyuki?"
"...I’ll make that top secret too."
Miyuki was forbidden knowledge that could never be told to anyone, so I planned to take that one to my grave.
"I-I feel like I need to make some huge secret too..."
"No, don’t start feeling weirdly competitive over this."
Apparently Natsumi was bothered by being the only one with light secrets, because she looked like she was about to go make one right away.
"I can’t leave it like this. I’m going to make a secret right now. Specifically, something like a secret base..."
"You’re actually going to make one!?"
"Then I’ll help too."
『Going off to make a secret, huh? Natsumi-chan’s bold! Yoshinon will keep an eye on you! Well then, see you later, Hai-kun!』
And just like that, the two of them and one doll disappeared far into the distance.
"They really went off and did it..."
I murmured that while watching their backs fade away.
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