[Got it? While you’re preparing the booth setup, try to get close to Miku.]
“Seriously, is this really okay?”
“I’d like to know that myself...”
Shido and I were changing into girls’ uniforms in the school’s boys’ restroom while no one else was around.
[If Hiki and Reine’s theory is correct, then yes. Don’t worry, your charm has already been acknowledged by the crew.]
“That just makes it more annoying...”
Why did I have to turn into a girl too?
According to the commander, when Shido tried to make contact with [Diva], I needed to be beside him, so I had to be a girl as well. Honestly, it just sounded like a convenient excuse.
Still, if your boss tells you to do something, you do it. That’s what being an office worker is all about.
[You’ve got all the rings on, right?]
“You can tell from my voice, can’t you?”
[Shido’s been too quiet.]
“Haa...”
Judging by the deep sigh coming from the next stall, Shido had also put on the rings properly.
When we opened the doors and stepped out, Shido emerged at the same time as me.
“...You’re not even ugly, which makes it worse.”
“...Same goes for you, Shido.”
If we’d been ugly, maybe it would’ve been different. But since both of us had become girls and ended up on the pretty side, my mood sank even further into the abyss.
“Anyway, we should tell them, right...”
“Yeah. We should.”
We walked toward Ai, Mai, and Mii with utterly defeated steps.
“Shido-kun said he had something really important to do, so I... I’m going to go to Tengu Square with you all instead.”
“That Hieta bastard dumped it on me.”
“Those guys...!”
“They ran off...!”
“That’s such a letdown!”
The three of them grew irritated, thinking Shido and I had ditched them.
The truth was that the girls standing right in front of them were us.
I felt a fresh wave of emptiness and wept internally.
“But who are you two?”
“I-I’m... Shido-kun’s cousin, Itsuka Shidomi—no, wait, I’m Itsuka Shiori!”
“I’m Hieta’s twin sister, Higakieta Miyuki.”
We gave the backstories we’d prepared in advance in response to Mai’s question.
Shido was Itsuka Shiori, his cousin.
I was Higakieta Miyuki, his twin sister.
And to create a contrast from our usual selves, Shido would speak politely while I’d use casual speech.
“Shido, what are you doing here—mmph!”
But that setup almost collapsed when Tohka showed up right then.
“Tohka. We’ve got a reason, so just pretend you don’t know anything!”
“Is that so? Got it.”
Luckily, Shido immediately covered Tohka’s mouth and explained the situation, so we got away with it.
I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Even though Tohka wasn't the brightest, she wasn’t completely oblivious, so this was a huge relief.
“Nice to meet you! The girl who isn’t Shido!”
Click-click! Click-click-click!
As Tohka played along, the sound of camera shutters and flashes burst from the other side of her.
“Eyes this way. Good. Very good, Shiori.”
The culprit was Tobiichi Origami.
She was holding a camera and snapping away at Shido, who was cross-dressed as a girl.
“Take one layer off.”
“Eh! I can’t do that!”
Shido refused, but Origami ignored him as if his opinion didn’t matter and kept hammering the shutter button.
“Agh!”
“It’s fine. Show everything.”
In the end, she even lay down, trying to photograph between Shido’s legs.
He was wearing shorts underneath, so even if she got a shot it wouldn’t have been a problem, but human beings have a thing called shame. I grabbed Shido by the shoulder and pulled him toward me.
“Huh?”
“Hey. Knock it off, okay? Shiori’s uncomfortable.”
Then Origami glared at me and said, “It has nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me? He’s my friend.”
When I checked Shido’s face, it was a little red.
“Hey, what’s wrong? You okay?”
“Y-Yeah! I’m fine!”
Shido said he was fine, but since we still had to win her over, I was worried it might be bad for his health, so I placed a hand on his forehead.
“You say you’re fine, but your face is kind of red... Weird, you don’t seem to have a fever. Still, do you want to go to the infirmary?”
“N-No!”
Shido shook his head and stepped away from me, leaving me in a state of confusion.
“Big sister!”
“Huh?”
“Please let me call you big sister!”
“Why all of a sudden?”
“Yes!”
These people were acting weird again for no reason.
****
Right now, Shido and I were at Tengu Square.
The reason was both executive committee work and searching for [Diva].
[Rindoji’s booth is in Hall 1.]
Listening to the commander, I looked around and found a group wearing Rindoji Girls’ Academy uniforms in the midst of the crowd.
“Found her! Let’s follow!”
We trailed after the group as quietly as we could, holding our breath.
Before long, [Diva] at the front broke away from the group and ignored a "No Entry" sign before entering a building.
Shido and I followed her inside, where we found a stage with chairs facing it.
[All right, let’s go!]
“Yeah.”
Since Shido had to go first and I’d take over if he failed, I waited near the entrance while he approached [Diva], who was standing on the stage.
“And you are?”
[Diva] heard Shido’s footsteps, turned around, and asked who he was.
“Eh? I, I’m...”
“I’m...?”
Damn it. He messed up.
He used a first-person pronoun usually reserved for men, so a girl using it was definitely suspicious.
But even if she found it odd, it didn’t really matter right now, because the current Shido was a perfect girl.
His body had completely become female, and even his voice had changed to sound like a woman’s.
Of course, if the ring came off, that would be a different story.
[Idiot, Shido!]
“Ah, r-right! That was...”
“You have a very unique way of speaking. Hehe. But that makes you charming.”
But [Diva] didn’t find it strange. She took it as a personal quirk.
She really was a spirit who was generous toward women.
[Both affection and mood are holding steady. They haven’t dropped.]
[Looks like she took Shido’s masculine speech as a quirk. Keep the tone as is. A choice has appeared, everyone pick!]
Right after the words “a choice has appeared,” my phone gave a small vibration.
Bzzzt!
A choice, huh.
I lowered the brightness as much as I could so the light from the screen wouldn’t leak out, then checked the options.
Hmm. Number 3 is definitely not it.
If he said that, he’d be branded a pervert for sure.
So I picked the safest option, number 2.
[Shido. It’s number 3.]
“Are you out of your mind?”
I blurted it out loud at the ridiculous instruction.
Oops.
I quickly covered my mouth with one hand and fell silent.
Luckily, we were far enough away and I’d muttered it, so it didn’t seem to reach the other side. There was no reaction.
[Say it in a joking tone, at least.]
“...Hey, you.”
“Yes?”
“Would you sell the panties you’re wearing right now for 30,000 yen?”
In the end, Shido went with number 3.
Now all that was left was for [Diva] to brand him a pervert.
“Well, I don’t like money, but if it’s an exchange for yours, I might think about it.”
But [Diva] was even more of a pervert than I’d expected.
Apparently, I should’ve known from the way she got excited the moment the AST showed up last time.
“Eh, eeh?”
Shido was visibly flustered by the completely unexpected answer.
Seeing him like that, [Diva] gave a small laugh and said, “Hehe. I was joking. And shouldn’t that be my reaction?”
“Ah, sorry. I was joking too.”
Looks like we managed to smooth that over somehow.
Only possible because [Diva] is a pervert, though.
There was no pervert quite like her.
I was starting to wonder how her brain was wired if she could say she might think about it in exchange for yours.
“By the way, when is the other one coming out?”
She wasn’t looking directly at me, but she was speaking while glancing toward where I was standing.
[Oh, crap. We’ve been found out. Hiki, you’re a girl right now too, so go on stage.]
Maybe she’d noticed my presence, or maybe she’d caught us because of Shido’s earlier slip-up. Either way, we’d already been found out, so I followed the commander’s order and walked toward the stage as well.
“My, you’re absolutely beautiful.”
“So are you.”
I answered in a flat, uninterested tone.
But [Diva] only smiled, as if even that reaction pleased her, and it gave me a slight chill.
“Judging by your uniforms, you’re both from Raizen, correct?”
Saying that, [Diva] fixed Shido’s crooked tie for him.
“Y-Yeah.”
“That’s right.”
Shido and I gave awkward answers to [Diva]’s sudden approach.
“Then once again...”
[Diva] stepped away from Shido and held out both hands to us.
“I’m Izayoi Miku from Rindoji Girls’ Academy.”
“Oh, nice to meet you. I’m Itsuka Shiori.”
Shido took [Diva]’s hand.
“Higakieta Miyuki from Raizen High School.”
I didn’t take [Diva]’s hand and spoke in an annoyed tone instead.
“You both have pretty names.”
[Not bad. Ask her a few questions.]
At the commander’s instruction, Shido thought for a moment before speaking.
“This area was off-limits, right? Miku... what were you doing in a place like this?”
At Shido’s question, [Diva] turned around and looked toward the audience seats.
“You see, I love the stage.”
“The stage?”
“Yes! I just can’t stand how lovely it is, this place where everyone needs my song.”
So she’d tried to drop Shido to his death in such a lovely place?
What an impossible woman.
“Have you two never heard my name before?”
When she asked that while looking back at us, I answered without even a second of hesitation.
“Nope.”
“Hmm. I see. That’s disappointing.”
Her face looked genuinely disappointed, and it was honestly miserable to deal with.
At this point, I’d believe it if someone said she had a split personality.
“Ah, I should be going now. What happened here is our little secret.”
“Y-Yeah.”
At last, it was time to part ways.
I was moved by the fact that I could finally take off these damn rings and was about to leave when—
“A-Ah!”
Crash!
“Shiori-san?!”
Shido tripped over a cable, and wooden boards came tumbling down on top of him.
“Careful, Shiori.”
The lucky part was that I caught Shido with one hand and blocked the boards with the other, so he didn’t get hurt.
But the back of my hand got scraped a little.
“Tch. That stings.”
After setting Shido upright and looking at the back of my hand, I muttered to myself, and [Diva] came over and wrapped my hand with her handkerchief.
“...Thanks.”
No matter how much I disliked [Diva], she had still helped me, so I thanked her.
“You’re welcome.”
[This means Hiki has to continue the route. Still, that’s a relief. It gives us an excuse to meet her again later.]
I am not relieved at all.
If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve just let Shido get hurt.
Damn it.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register