The chuu2 train is still chugging along just fine.
Parts (out of four) this time to give the illusion of progress because there are natural breaks in this chapter.
Chapter 4: Eccentric Drama Club
"By the way, Yuuta. Recently it"s been a bit formulaic -"
"We are!?"
Don"t just say something sad like that without any warning! I"m on the verge of tears here!
Yesterday, Amaniji-senpai said that the dangerous time-period for couples was three to six months after they started dating, right!? I don"t know if that was true or not since this is my first-time dating, but perhaps I was the only one who thought that we were progressing smoothly!?
Afterwards. In other words, it was right after Amaniji-senpai made fun of me yesterday. Satisfied with that, Amaniji-senpai said "I"ve stayed for way too long, sorry! Well then, see you later!" in a hurry and went home. Since I asked her to, she left through the front door.
And now, back to the present - lunch time. It was right in the middle of lunch time, and it was just the two of us on the school"s rooftop.
Incidentally, about this rooftop - while there was the possibility of someone else intruding, since it was hot on the rooftop it seemed that only people with strange tastes (I guess we were the sort of weird people who would come up here) would come up here; so far, we still haven"t met anyone else on this rooftop. As a result, I guess you could call it something like a private s.p.a.ce for the two of us.
The azure sky - since the seasons had changed, maybe I should be calling it the autumnal sky instead. Nevertheless, although it was September, the blazing sun was still scorching down on us. In order to avoid such a h.e.l.l, we were hiding in the shade, and while we were sitting on the ground eating our bentos, having our usual fun whimsical conversations, there was suddenly some sad news from Rikka.
I think there were some tears in my eyes.
"You"re completely wrong."
Rikka-san had a sullen face. She was really angry.
Although she won"t tell me why, recently she"s been wearing the eyepatch a lot again. As a result, I could only check with one of her eyes, but that left eye of hers was staring at me with a cold gaze.
So I was wrong… I"m glad, really glad…
"I"m sorry… I jumped to conclusions. …So, what"s become formulaic?"
"The recent Aggressive Aliens ☆ Secret Manual."
In case you didn"t know, it was Rikka"s favourite magazine to read.
Ever since that one time when Yumeha borrowed it, she"s been pestering me to "borrow it againnn", giving me the opportunity to read the following publications. I certainly couldn"t deny the feeling that the content was getting repet.i.tive.
Well, since it"s meant to be about stuff that you don"t know about aliens, I guess it"s understandable that there"ll be less and less things to write about.
"I want them to introduce more new kinds of aliens."
"New kind of aliens…? Like…?"
"Recently there has been lots of anime about various aliens coming to j.a.pan. They should introduce those."
"If they did that, wouldn"t it just become an ordinary anime magazine!?"
It"s M*gami Magazine![1] Or NyanT*PE![2] …Its secret is that all the aliens are pretty girls.
"I want to see lots of new kinds of aliens! Yuuta, what can you share?"
"Don"t talk as if I have some kind of secret tool that I can freely use! It"s impossible after all!"
"Oof… Looks like it can"t be helped. Yuuta, let"s summon one together!"
"You can summon aliens!?"
But I thought that aliens only come for stuff like invasion or sightseeing. They"re not demons… But hey, maybe you could summon something alien-like. If that"s the case, then at least we"ll be able to communicate with it.
"Elohim Essaim, Elohim Essaim[3]."
"Don"t cast the Baranga Baranga[4] spell! And that summons a demon!"
"Oof. Alright then, in that case - Yuuta, you must immediately do the alien-summoning dance."
"…Wait, don"t you know? I can"t dance at all…"
"Is that so… Yuuta can"t even do the first part of radio calisthenics… Even though you"re the Demon King, how regrettable…"
…Don"t speak with such a dejected tone, it"s making me feel down. I mean, that"s calisthenics, not dancing.
Moreover, I"m able to do radio calisthenics up to the second part!
"Wait, if it"s a dance, wouldn"t it be better if you did it since you"re skilled at dancing? Ah, rather, I want to see you perform the dance for the cultural festival!"
When I said that, Rikka"s body twitched, and was full of confidence as she looked towards me with her usual triumphant look. Looking as if she was ready to show off what she could do, Rikka put her half-eaten bento down, quickly stood up and took an imposing stance right in front of me.
"Guess it can"t be helped. This is special, for Yuuta only."
Saying that, she took half a step back and did a spin. Naturally, it was a horizontal spin. At that instant, her skirt gently floated in the air- but I couldn"t see that forbidden secret part of hers. Regardless, I was excited.
And then, even though there was no music, she captivated me with - I mean, performed for me - that cute dance of hers. Rikka had the stage to herself - both figuratively and literally. Even though I knew that, I was still impressed by her movements. In fact, it felt that she was even on the same level as the dance club. Well, that might just be due to my bias though.
As she finished a portion of the dance without breaking a sweat, Rikka had a huge smile on her face. I gave a round of applause to Rikka as well.
"How was it? My wild war dance?"
"Eh… I liked it…?"
I"m not certain about why she"s happy - was it because she was able to perform the dance for me, or was it because she was able to use a cool phrase like that…
Clearing my throat, I gave my revised opinion.
"I mean, yeah, it was the strongest! Have you really mastered the dance already?"
"Naturally! It"s already perfect. I"m able to master anything instantly by using the power of the Devilish Truth Stare. In addition, the Devilish Truth Stare also has the ability to make an exact copy of anything. It can even freely steal the abilities of my enemies. Haaaaa, Dark Phoenix Blazing Wave!"
"Shichimiya"s technique has already been stolen!?"
"I can also use this. Flames of love!"
"Ple, please don"t use that readily…"
It wasn"t something that can be used freely. It"s an ability that potentially exceeds the power of the Devilish Truth Stare…
Then again, Devilish Truth Stare: it can manipulate the five elements, manipulate gravity, use telekinesis, and could seemingly manipulate fate. And now that I think about it, yesterday she told me that it could also manipulate time. On top of that, she seemed to have something like a nullify ability nullification ability (despite bringing it up, I"m not quite sure what that ability is either) - its setting as the strongest wasn"t just for show.
Anyway, the cla.s.s performance - looks like it"s already perfect on the dance front. If Rikka was going to be burdened by the request, while I would feel bad for Amaniji-senpai, I was intending to refuse, but looks like there may be no need to worry about that.
Well, I still have to ask Rikka about it since I"m not certain if she"ll help until I ask properly. For now, I"ll start by gently bringing up the subject.
"Say, about what we talked about yesterday -"
"What we talked about yesterday? You mean about how Yuuta cried after reading Gon, the Little Fox[5]?"
"Let"s not talk about thaaat!"
Even though I did cry after reading it - even though it happened!
I mean, why did you suddenly bring that up!?
"I also cried yesterday. I had a terrible dream where Mori-sama was using my Devilish Truth Stare."
"…That certainly is a terrible dream to have!"
"Yeah, and when I thought that it really happened… I was scared and wondered if I should call Yuuta, but thought that it would be hard for you to come to my house at 2 o"clock in the middle of the night… so I endured it."
"But I would go!? Even if it was at 2 o"clock I"d go!?"
"Ooh, as expected of the King of the Night! Just hearing it makes me feel relieved."
"No no, that"s not it… Look, yesterday, we talked about the cultural festival, didn"t we?"
"The cultural festival? Ah, you mean about how Yuuta was troubled about which Batoen[6] to use in the Batoen tournament?"
"But there"s no tournament like that scheduled at our cultural festival!?"
I"ve never seen a Batoen before though. Or rather, why do you know about battle pencils? Regardless, it seems pretty plain for a tournament…
"Hmm? …Maybe that was a dream then?"
"Rikka, what kind of incredible dreams are you having… Look, it"s about the play."
"Play? Ah, Arc-san."
Rikka had a look which implied that she finally knew (it seemed that she only just remembered) what I was talking about. I thought that her expression was on purpose since she was still playing the funny man, but it seemed that she was being serious.
"How did you find Arc-san?"
"Well, you see, yesterday Arc-san - Amaniji-senpai - abruptly came up into my room."
Literally. Abruptly came up. Will this fact be conveyed to Rikka?
"Abruptly came up into Yuuta"s room!? Arc-san has the ability to fly!?"
"It got conveyed!"
"As expected of Arc-san…! I don"t have the ability to fly… looks like I can"t be Yuuta"s swallow after all…?"
"Weren"t you lavished with abilities just now!? Well… it"s fine, since Rikka"s other abilities are absolutely overwhelming…"
"Ooh! Yeah, I"ll believe in your words Yuuta! By the way, why did Arc-san go to your house? Ah!? Maybe she"s the enemy!?"
"No, no, she"s definitely not the enemy. At the very least, she doesn"t seem like a bad person."
But then again, I"m not certain about that.
Although it was only based on my intuition, I couldn"t believe that someone with such an easy-going personality would be a bad person. Then again, I couldn"t say that she was a good person either.
If I had to be precise, I"d say that she"s a strange person.
"So why Yuuta"s house?"
"Umm, she came to win me over I guess."
"A monster!? She"s the enemy after all!?"
"We already did that joke yesterday!"
Seems like Rikka"s thought process was similar to Amaniji-senpai"s. Actually, would it be better to say that they have similar tastes instead? If that"s the case, then I too also have similar tastes to Amaniji-senpai…
"Anyways, it"s about the play - she came to ask about it once again. So, what are your thoughts, Rikka?"
As I asked her about it, Rikka had a confused expression on her face. She let out a small "hmm".
"There"s no problem about it on my end. On the dance front, I"m fine. However, why me?"
"Hmm, well Amaniji-senpai did say that she thinks your personality is rather unique."
"…Unique? But I"m normal…?", said Rikka as she tilted her head slightly, seeming as if she was questioning that conclusion.
However, "I"m normal" - for Amaniji-senpai, it felt like the exact opposite is true.
I also think that Rikka is one of the most unique people I know. I mean, among my acquaintances she"d be competing for first or second place in terms of eccentricity. By the way, the other person"s Shichimiya. I"m not sure if it"s because they are chuunibyou patients, but their measure of what"s eccentric is different from other people"s.
However, I"m certain that they believe themselves to be normal. While they might think that they"re doing something normally, to others it looks extremely unique.
Then again.
For Amaniji-senpai, they definitely wouldn"t be categorised as "normal".
Excessive acting - thinking back on what happened yesterday, adopting a fictional persona certainly is very similar to playing the leading role in a play. In some respects, it was like you were showing off how unique you were compared to everyone else -
"By the way, Yuuta - are you going to help out as well?"
Rikka asked me a question, interrupting my thoughts.
Since my thoughts were interrupted so abruptly, I was a little shocked, leading me to be a little jittery in my reply.
"Eh, ah, yeah. But I"m only helping out if Rikka"s helping out as well."
"I see. Yeah, that is a very Yuuta-like thing to do. The King"s willing to do anything to gain a servant. Looks like Yuuta"s reverting back to being the type of Demon King that is kind to his subjects."
"I-I"m regressing!?"
"To be honest, I"m also reverting back to being the wielder of the Devilish Truth Stare."
It"s another new setting! I mean, didn"t you inherit it from your father!?
Looks like I won"t be able to grasp the setting anytime soon.
"Haa. Don"t misunderstand. Even though it is a regression, the inheritance of the Devilish Truth Stare is hereditary."
"……"
"… I just wanted to try using that explanation for a bit…"
It was being tsunshun in a different way[7]. Trying being tsun-like, and you"ll understand that feeling depressed makes it a different personality! YES, MANIAC![8]
"We-well, but remember that I"m only helping if Rikka"s helping too."
"I"ll do it too! Since Yuuta"s said he"ll help, I"ll do it too! It"s only natural since you"re my contractee."
"O, oh."
It was quite rare for Rikka to press me like that with such a menacing att.i.tude. Then again, maybe she was burning with jealously since I already planned on helping.
Jealously - while I"m happy that she feels that way, but since we"ve already been in a quarrel due to it before I have to properly explain the situation so that she doesn"t misunderstand me. Yeah, I absolutely have to make sure that I"ve explained it well.
Explaining the situation - but I can"t really do that without first telling Rikka about Shichimiya"s and her role in the play. Ever since that incident, Rikka hasn"t shown anything like jealously at all - rather, the two of them are on very good terms with each other. Due to that, I"m not particularly anxious about it, but it"s probably still better to tell her now rather than later.
"Oh, so we"re both helping then. Ah, I"m not certain, but Shichimiya might be helping out as well."
"Sophia as well?"
"Yeah, since Amaniji-senpai said that in addition to both you and me, she wanted to have one more person. And because Shichimiya"s the only who could meet Amaniji-senpai"s demands, I was planning on asking her afterwards to help out."
"I see. Sophia and the play - yeah, seems like it"s going to be fun!", replied Rikka, who was in high spirits.
Seems like I was worried about nothing. I mean, Rikka saying "seems like it"s going to be fun" shows just how close the two of them have gotten, which makes me happy.
"Well then, for now, how about we go visit Amaniji-senpai after school today?"
"Understood."
And with a nod, Rikka finally returned back to her spot right next to me. After that, she finished off her bento"s side dish in one mouthful before immediately turning straight towards me, staring into my eyes with a serious expression on her face.
"By the way Yuuta. I believe it"s necessary for you to explain what happened yesterday in a little more detail. First of all, why Yuuta"s place? I"m sure that there were other methods though? She"s the enemy after all?"
…Even though I"ve already said this before, but it seems like Rikka"s feeling quite jealous - on one hand, it makes me feel happy; on the other hand, it"s making me swear once again to try and not give off the wrong impression.
[1] Megami Magazine
[2] NyanTYPE.
[3] Originally from the Grand Grimoire, also known as The Red Dragon. Made popular in j.a.pan by the manga series Ak.u.ma-kun. Used to summon demons.
[4] Also a reference to Ak.u.ma-kun. Still about summoning demons.
[5] A j.a.panese children"s story about the life of a little fox called Gon.
[6] Batoen (バトエン) is short for Battle Pencil, a sort of trading card game but with pencils. The abbreviation of Batoen is used by the Square Enix version of the game.
[7] Tsunshun (ツンしゅん), a character archetype similar to a tsundere, but rather than warming up to others later they get sad later about their actions. Reference to Inu x Boku SS.
[8] Also a reference to Inu x Boku SS. Said as a catchphrase of one of the characters when she sees something arousing.