Part 13: Grim Advice
Part 13 - Grim AdviceSFX: Computer Noise
quote:
Neidhardt: Whaddaya think of a girl like that?
Neidhardt: I have no idea what to do anymore
Neidhardt: She's definitely got some kind of ulterior motive
Neidhardt: That's all I can come up with
Neidhardt: Hey, you listening? >Grim
Grim: W H A T I S T H E N A M E O F T H I S E R O G E?
That night. As we chatted, I tried Grim's advice on what to do about Yua.
I didn't think anything would come of it if I went around suspecting everyone and everything, all on my own.
But there was his answer. To be fair, I'd had the exact same reaction the first time I spoke with Yua.
quote:
Neidhardt: I was an idiot for asking you
Grim: Wait, lol, you, you're serious!? Man, you've got flags standing up all over the place!
Grim: When you do things, ya sure get 'em done right, hahaha
Grim: Dude, who was it who said he wasn't interested in the third dimension?
Neidhardt: Look, it's not that kind of relationship
quote:
Grim: Well, guys like you with no romantic experience
Grim: Have a tendency to graduate from being otaku the second they get a woman
Grim: It's common sense that your girlfriend wouldn't want you fapping to school swimsuits
Neidhardt: I'm more into racing suits than school swimsuits
Grim: That's totally off-topic, lol
Oh? I could hear Seira-tan's voice. I'd changed my settings so that she'd say the same line whenever I got a new email.
When I casually checked my email client, the field for the sender's name said--
Kusunoki Yua
"Uwah.... that was fast."quote:
Neidhardt: Got an email
Neidhardt: Just now
I took a gulp and opened it.
But.... With parts like, "Because you were there with me," and "I'd like to greet you in the morning," and....
You could also interpret it as being part of some scheme of hers.
quote:
Neidhardt: It's normal stuff, man
Neidhardt: Just saying hello
Grim: C'mon, just post it! Post it!
quote:
Neidhardt: Come on, think about it seriously
Neidhardt: It's gotta be some kind of trap!
Grim: Yeah, yeah, conspiracy, conspiracy, conspiracy
Grim: Aren't you overthinking things?
Grim: To me it just looks like you've set off her flag
Grim: Only a little longer till you reach her Good End
Neidhardt: But that's impossible
Neidhardt: A gross otaku like me, and a real live girl who's that cute
Neidhardt: Would never get together
Grim: lol, now you're just praising your honey
quote:
Grim: Well, the whole stalker act she started out with might've been overdoing it
Grim: But she likes you enough
Grim: To be driven by that kind of impulse
Grim: She likes anime, right?
Grim: She's an impossibly ideal girlfriend
Grim: For an otaku, at any rate
Grim: Go on and make her adapt to your tastes
No, no, no! That was exactly what she wanted me to think!
quote:
Grim: Be happy you got reverse-picked-up, heh
Neidhardt: I'm not interested in the third dimension
Grim: But really you want to go out with her so badly you can't
help it, right?
Grim: If you wanna get out of your otaku cocoon, now's your
chance
Grim: Make no mistake, you won't get this kind of chance again
quote:
Grim: Congrats on your newfound popularity!
Grim: Instead of freaking out, go on the attack
Grim: Just act like Neidhardt, except in real life
Grim: All lights green ahead--------!
If I could do that, it wouldn't be such a struggle.
And there was something I'd learned from talking to Yua yesterday and the day before yesterday.
It was enjoyable, and it made me happy, but more so than that, it wore me out, and it was a huge bother.
Rather than continuing to be forced to go through all that, I might as well stick to the 2-D world, where I could live however I wanted....
SFX End
SFX: Something's burning
Red tongues of flame danced inside the incinerator. They were burning a sailor uniform and a number of textbooks.
The sound of boats' steam whistles came faintly from afar, and a refreshing, salty breeze softly shook the trees just beyond the house's eaves.
Fixed incessantly on the sailor uniform and textbooks transforming to flame inside the incinerator, her eyes wore a vermillion glow. They were the sailor uniform she had worn and the textbooks she had used up until just yesterday.
She made no effort to move from the spot, as though she were reluctant to part with them, despite the fact that she herself had set them on fire.
She abruptly knitted her eyebrows in anguish and covered her ears hard.
Her mouth opened with difficulty. But nothing more happened.
Neither groaning nor complaining, she simply breathed raggedly.
She shook her head over and over, as if to push something away.
Still covering her ears, she gradually crumbled in place. When her bottom hit the ground, she moved her chin just a little, as though exhausted, and gazed expressionlessly up at the sky.
She remained in that position for several minutes without so much as twitching.
Kozue shakily rose to her feet and walked up to the veranda. Her mother appeared right then, as though she had calculated the timing.
Kozue nodded and sat down lightly on the edge of the veranda.
Standing next to her, her mother cast a look at the serene inland sea.
Kozue neither nodded nor shook her head in response to her mother's considerate words.
