The high-stakes Sunday had finally arrived.
For a gloomy otaku like me, a typical Sunday meant spending the morning watching Nichiasa while tweeting my excitement about every scene, then passing the rest of the day catching up on my anime backlog. For an otaku, Sunday was the perfect day to enjoy the ultimate combo of being indoors with anime or games.
But today... today was different.
(Today, I’m going on a weekend date with a girl.)
For someone who had been a gloomy otaku his entire life, this was my very first "holiday date." To make things even crazier, my partner was Yuria Ichinose, a gyaru from the very top of the school's social hierarchy.
(To think I’d be going on a date with her—the girl who was worshipped by every guy for her well-developed, bountiful chest and those artistically thick, magnificent thighs...)
I was getting ahead of myself. Technically, this only happened because I found out she was a secret otaku, and one thing led to another. It might not even be a "date" in the traditional sense. Still, it was undeniably an outing between a man and a woman.
Since I was going out with the ultimate fashionista gyaru, I couldn't exactly show up in my usual disheveled, pathetic otaku rags. I’d spent Saturday preparing, studying trends on fashion creator channels I’d normally block on sight. I even learned how to use wax and hairspray. I went for the "oversized" look that was in style lately, buying a slightly flashy, bright shirt and a pair of pants—I made sure to call them pants to shed my gloomy image—from the local Cherukuro. I even grabbed some hair wax at the convenience store.
(In my mind, I’m a total normie right now.)
Honestly, I wanted her to see a "gap." I wanted her to think, He’s usually such a nerd, but he actually looks cool and stylish on his days off.
Lost in these typical otaku fantasies, I double-checked that Nichiasa was set to record and stepped out of the house.
"Into the fray...!"
☆☆
Thinking it was better to be there as early as possible before our ten o'clock meeting time, I left home ahead of schedule.
I was meeting Ichinose at the neighboring town’s station. For her, that place was practically a site of trauma since it was where I’d discovered her secret. Even so, she was the one who suggested the theater there.
(I guess it makes sense. If a top-tier gyaru like her was caught watching a scandalous otaku movie like Breast-Kyun at the local theater, her reputation would be ruined.)
Her secret was a major concern, but honestly, being seen on a date with me was probably just as dangerous for her. After weighing all the risks, the neighboring town was the only logical choice.
While walking and mulling over these thoughts, I reached my local station.
(The next train is in three minutes, huh?)
I pulled my phone out to kill some time with a mobile game, but then—
"My, my... if it isn't Ryouta-kun."
A voice suddenly reached my ears from behind. The phone I had just pulled out slipped through my fingers and hit the ground with a thud.
I had been completely off guard. I’d been so worried about Ichinose not being seen that I forgot about myself. If a gloomy loner like me was wandering around in stylish normie clothes on a weekend, anyone who knew me was bound to notice. And if they followed that thread... they’d inevitably find the secret hidden behind it.
"Wax and perfume...? Hehe. Where are you going all dressed up like that?"
She had her hair in a ponytail that showed off the nape of her neck, and her face was so flawlessly beautiful it made me want to sigh. She was wearing our school’s Track and Field Club jersey, giving her a much more energetic vibe than her usual refined persona.
"K-Kuroki... What are you doing here!?"
"What do you mean? It’s off-campus practice for the club. ♡"
Before the date could even start, the Last Boss—Rui Kuroki—had appeared.