Yuria pulled a copy of Lucky & H volume one from her bookshelf.
"Lucky & H..."
Now that I thought about it, Yuria had reacted quite strongly when she saw the same book in my room. So this was the series that had first turned her into an otaku?
"This is my treasure. I told you before, right? A boy I played with at the park gave it to me back in elementary school. Reading it made me want to be like the gyaru in the story. After that, I fell head over heels for both gyaru and otaku culture."
Yuria spoke with a gentle, nostalgic look in her eyes as she gazed at the book.
So Lucky & H was the starting point for Yuria.
True to the title, it was a school rom-com from a shonen magazine packed with one "lucky" lewd scenario after another. Considering its style, it made sense that this was the origin of Yuria’s love for Breast-Kyun.
I took the volume from her and flipped it open.
Being a first edition, the cover and pages were a bit faded from the sun.
"Wait... Hey, Yuria. There’s a Sentai card tucked inside here."
"Oh, that? The boy who gave me the manga must have left it in there. I never saw him again, so I just kept it where it was."
Tucking a wafer card into a manga, huh?
I remembered doing that myself—sticking duplicate cards I didn't need between the pages of a manga to keep the humidity from warping them.
And this card... it was Sentai Pink.
Wait a second. Back in elementary school, I was obsessed with buying Sentai wafers, too.
Hazy memories of my childhood began to snap into focus.
If I remembered right... I was always a fan of Sentai Pink, wasn't I?
While the other boys in my class looked up to the Red Ranger with pure, innocent hearts, I was already showing my true colors as a total pervert. Even as a precocious brat, I only ever had eyes for the Pink Ranger.
In my defense, the actress playing the Pink Ranger at the time had such an incredible body that she eventually became a gravure idol doing some pretty suggestive work. My young heart—and my crotch—had been completely captivated.
I was a regular Wafer Kid for several series back then, but I went especially crazy for the Sentai ones. I’d clutch my monthly allowance and head straight for the neighborhood supermarket, which was the only place nearby that actually stocked them.
But once the series with my favorite Pink Ranger ended, the wafers started disappearing from the shelves. I vaguely remembered how much that had sucked.
Online shopping wasn't nearly as common then, and asking my parents to buy a whole box for me was out of the question. I’d been desperate.
Determined to buy as many as I could before they went out of production, I’d scoured every supermarket, convenience store, and candy store in Natsuhama City that I could reach on my bike. I was on a mission to collect every Pink card and sticker I could find.
Even as a little kid, I was already devoted to the Oshi-katsu lifestyle.
"What is it, Ryouta?"
"Oh, nothing... just feeling nostalgic. I used to buy these wafers all the time, and I’d tuck them into my manga, too. You know how it is when you’re a kid—filing them away properly is too much of a pain."
"Hmm... I thought so."
"Wait, Yuria?"
Yuria’s expression suddenly cleared, becoming remarkably composed as she grabbed my shoulders and stared directly into my eyes.
"Listen, Ryouta. Listen very carefully."
"Uh, sure."
"I knew it... You were the one who gave me this manga, weren't you, Ryouta?"
The boy who gave Lucky & H to Yuria... was me!?