I never would have imagined that Honjo-san liked 2D.
More precisely, I never would have imagined that she had no interest at all in men from reality.
Even so, unless it was someone like Miku, you’d think she’d at least feel some kind of romantic attraction to men.
The kind of man Honjo-san felt romantic attraction toward was on a completely different level.
"Hey, Commander. What am I supposed to do about this?"
It had turned into a full-blown emergency, so as soon as I got into the cafe with Honjo-san, I headed to the restroom and asked the commander.
But even the commander hadn’t expected this situation at all, and she gave a negative response.
[Even if you ask me that.... I didn’t exactly anticipate this kind of thing.]
Well, who would think she’d like 2D?
[I have a good method.]
While I was holding my head and worrying, Maria said she had a solution.
When I asked what it was, the answer I got was a little shocking.
[If Hii goes into the cyber world, he’ll become 2D, so you can just start from there.]
"...."
Wasn’t there a saying about how close to ink, close to black?
Somehow, after hanging around with the others, Maria’s way of thinking seemed to have drifted in a weird direction.
I never thought the fact that the only people around me who could really be called normal were Yoshino, the Fire Witch, and Mayuri would feel this huge.
[Rejected. It’s not bad, but even if we did that, you still couldn’t kiss her, so it’s meaningless.]
[What a shame....]
"Phew...."
Honestly, I let out a sigh of relief because I really didn’t want to get locked inside the cyber world again.
"Is there really no way...."
Miku liked women, and there was a way for me to turn into a woman, so that had been possible.
But Honjo-san was close to impossible.
Not only could I not become a 2D character myself, but even if I could, I couldn’t think of any way to raise her affection for me.
I’d never felt this helpless since Miku. I really couldn’t see a way forward.
[Commander, didn’t Nia just say what kind of character she likes?]
Just as I was about to sink back into thought, Kannazuki-san’s question came from the side.
Sure enough, among the reactions Honjo-san had shown, there was one character she’d reacted to really strongly.
I think the name was....
"Tokiya.... I think it was."
[A character popular with women.]
As expected, Nagatsugawa-san, who had the highest level of otaku knowledge among the crew, also knew that character.
[...I see, that could work.]
Once the commander learned about the character Honjo-san liked, she seemed to have come up with a good idea, because her voice rose a little as she spoke.
"What is it? You’ve got a way?"
[You disguise yourself as that character. You’d be bringing a 2D character into reality.]
Listening to the commander, it did sound like a good method.
She liked 2D characters, so I’d disguise myself as that character and manifest him in reality.
Then Honjo-san’s affection would definitely go up.
Ratatoskr had the technology to make that possible, so if you thought about it normally, it was a feasible plan.
But my thoughts were a little different.
"That won’t work."
[What do you mean?]
"Honjo-san isn’t a ‘normal’ hardcore otaku. She’s an ‘extreme’ one."
If Honjo-san had been a normal otaku, this might have worked.
The problem was that she wasn’t normal. She was extreme.
[And what’s that supposed to mean?]
"This is something one of the otaku I know really well said. When I asked him whether he’d date a character he liked, his answer was ‘NO.’"
[...Why?]
"He said, ‘That character would never do that to me. That would be an insult to the character. Don’t you dare lump me in with a character like that.’"
That was what our friend Gyeongsik said, the biggest otaku among my friends and someone who knew more about anime and manga than anyone else.
Once, when I asked him what he’d do if a character confessed to him, he said exactly that.
The look in his eyes was so serious, so utterly free of lies, that even back then I’d been speechless when I heard it.
Still, thinking about it now, it had become useful advice.
Thanks, Gyeongsik Gyeongsik.
"Honjo-san’s just like that guy, so even if I became that character myself, if I tried to kiss her, her affection would plummet straight into the abyss."
If Gyeongsik said that, would Honjo-san be any different?
The moment she thought it was an insult to the character, her affection would hit rock bottom and keep going deeper.
[That does make sense. An insult to the character....]
Back at square one, the commander fell into deep thought, and I also wondered if there was any other special way.
This really wasn’t going to be an easy攻略.
What am I even supposed to do about this....
For some reason, I started envying Honjo-san for having [Raziel].
*****
In the end, time passed without us finding any solution, and the date in Akihabara ended in a vague blur.
"How was it?"
"She had absolutely no romantic interest in 3D...."
When I relayed Honjo-san’s words exactly to Itsuka-kun’s question, he gave an awkward smile and quietly muttered that it was a relief he hadn’t gone through with any攻略.
"Haa, well, I’ve already decided to work under Honjo-san, so I’ll just have to do something about it during that time."
My meeting with Honjo-san wasn’t over yet.
As long as I was going to be working under her, there would be more than enough chances to meet her from here on out.
If I could somehow make her feel a certain level of affection for me within the contract period, I could seal it.
Well, I was floundering like this because it was almost impossible.
"A woman who likes 2D, huh. That’s not easy."
"Ah, Mayuri."
"You too, huh? While you were out, you ‘again’ went around meeting women?"
"...Ahem."
I had nothing to say to Mayuri, who was standing there with her arms crossed and complaining.
Honjo-san was a woman, after all, so I couldn’t exactly argue with that.
"Well, it can’t be helped. That’s your role, after all."
"Haha, thank you for understanding."
"Forget that. The real problem is how you’re supposed to seduce someone who likes 2D, right?"
"You could say that, yes."
At my answer, Mayuri rested her chin on her hand and thought for a moment before asking a question.
"If she likes characters, wouldn’t it work if you turned yourself into a character?"
"Turn Hii into a character?"
"Me, you mean?"
"Yeah. If you characterize Hii, and that person named Nia falls for the characterized Hii? If that character’s personality is exactly the same as Hii’s? Then the gap between the character and the real Hii disappears, and it’s not an insult anymore."
"Oh...."
Mayuri, who for once had come up with a really good idea.
I’d thought she was fairly smart because she read a lot, but I never expected her to come up with such a good suggestion.
I was reminded all over again how useful reading could be.
"...What’s with that reaction?"
"I just thought Mayuri was amazing."
"Forget it. You can praise me all you want, nothing’s coming out of it."
Even after saying that, the tips of her ears were slightly red, probably because she was still happy to be praised.
"Then I’ll tell the commander."
Mayuri’s idea was good, but that didn’t mean I could decide on it all by myself.
First I needed to tell the commander, Kannazuki-san, or Murasame-san, share everyone’s opinions, and then work out a proper plan together.
"You don’t need to go that far."
"Commander?"
Just as I stood up to tell the commander about Mayuri’s idea, the commander appeared behind me.
"I came to ask everyone for opinions about Nia, and I heard a good one. Not bad, Mayuri."
"Well, this is the kind of thing you come up with if you think about it a little."
Seeing Mayuri shrug at the commander’s praise, I felt like teasing her a little.
"Huh. Does that mean the commander doesn’t think at all...."
"W-What are you talking about!"
"Hii, stop spouting nonsense. I’m going to go work out a plan based on Mayuri’s idea, so I’m leaving."
Just as the commander said that and was about to leave again.
Ring ring ring-!
"Hm?"
My phone rang.
That meant someone was calling me, and when I checked the screen to see who it was....
"Who is it?"
It was a number I didn’t recognize.
"Hello?"
[Oh! Assistant-kun!]
"Honjo-san?"
The caller was Honjo-san.
I’d never given her my number, so she must have found it using [Raziel].
And in the meantime, the way she addressed me had changed from boy to assistant.
"What is it?"
[Well, I was curious how Assistant-kun was going to seduce me, so I used [Raziel]. And then I found something interesting~]
"Hmm...."
The interesting thing was probably the idea Mayuri had just mentioned: characterizing the person called Hii-gakieta Hai, right?
[Characterizing Assistant-kun! That was fascinating, you know?]
"...Haha."
I’d been found out before the plan was even fully formed.
Was this how Natsumi felt when she dealt with me?
[Raziel] is seriously broken as hell.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register