Chapter 6: The Star of the Magpie (6)

I was giggling, enjoying the spectacle of trashy humanity, when suddenly the screen rotated, and I saw our Nexus.

Uh… those crazy b@stards actually surrendered.

We could have won… I had almost finished stacking Predator, and with just a few more items, I could have carried.

Annoyed, I rage-quit (slammed my right fist on the keyboard). This d@mned game.

“Ah, f*ck.”

At that moment, a blatant, low-pitched curse slipped out from beside me.

I flinched and turned to see a typical delinquent-looking high schooler, around my age, with a dirty look on his face.

He was staring directly at me for some reason.

“Huh?”

“What the fck, btch, I lost the teamfight because you slammed your keyboard! Ha… and it was my promos… f*ck…”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

He’s scary… delinquents are scary. In my fantasies, I’ve beaten them up like punching bags countless times, but in reality, they’re terrifying.

As a typical introverted hikikomori, the best course of action is to avoid these kinds of uncivilized people as much as possible.

[TL Note: Hikikomori is a Japanese term referring to people who withdraw from social life and often stay isolated at home for extended periods, usually due to extreme introversion, anxiety, or societal pressure.]

I don’t know how I looked, but after apologizing with what I hoped was a genuinely apologetic expression, the ugly b@stard finally went back to his game.

I lost a game unfairly, so I decided to listen to some music.

I had a little over ten minutes left until I reached the one-hour mark for the Dungeon Fighter Online event items.

I plugged my headset into the computer and turned the volume up as high as it would go.

It’s similar to how putting in earphones at full volume and playing “Final Brutal Sister Flandre S” creates a perfect barrier against the chatter of normies.

[TL Note: Final Brutal Sister Flandre S – A fan remix of a Touhou Project character theme, known for being loud and intense; used here as an extreme way to block out surrounding noise.]

I played a song without thinking, and at that moment, a loud sound filled my surroundings.

It was Kotori’s– Ucchi’s– thin and pretty voice, but at this volume, it was startling.

[TL Note: Kotori = the anime character from Love Live!

Ucchi = the voice actress Uchida Aya, who voices Kotori]

– “Kimi ni tondeke, suki suki puwapuwa!”

[TL Note: This is a typical line from a cute, idol-style anime song meant to sound playful, sweet, and bubbly.]

Uh… oh. I messed up. This is so embarrassing. What the heck, why is my headset malfunctioning? Why is nothing going my way? Startled, I stopped the song and glared at the computer where my headset was plugged in.

Something was wrong. What is it… After three seconds of contemplation, I realized. I had plugged the headset in backward. I had plugged the microphone jack into the headphone port and the headphone jack into the microphone port.

I heard whispering from the corner, “Is that… Love Live?” Yes, it’s Love Live… I couldn’t bring myself to answer and ignored the stares.

Embarrassed, I quickly closed the game, pushed my chair in, and then someone tapped me on the shoulder. They pointed at their screen.

“Ah… seriously, this fcking btch. I was going to let it slide because you’re a girl, but are you kidding me? Not once, but twice… You b*tch, I lost my last teamfight and my promos because I was startled by you, what are you going to do about it? Ha…”

It was that delinquent high schooler from before. Following his finger with my eyes, I glanced at his screen, and a small message caught my eye. “You have failed your promotion series to Diamond 4.” I felt genuinely sorry now.

“Uh… I’m really sorry. I apologize.”

I bowed my head repeatedly. I had nothing to say in my defense. How could things get this messed up? It’s dangerous outside the blankets, really… ha…

“Fcking btch playing her disgusting otaku songs.”

I think I heard the sound of my rationality snapping. The delinquent glared at me, continuing his tirade.

“You fcking otaku, stop listening to that sht. High-pitched whining, f*cking disgusting…”
“Shut your trap, a**hole.”

“…What? Are you crazy? Why should I shut up? Are you some streamer whoring for star balloons with your annoying voice? Did you get emotionally invested in the otaku song and get offended? Huh?”

“Who are you to insult my kid? This kid is way cuter than a loser like you who insults people after losing a game. She’s a million times more helpful than you.”

The fight escalated. Both the delinquent and I lost our composure and hurled insults at each other. Then, as if the last shred of his sanity had snapped, his fist disappeared from my view. He seemed to be aiming for my stomach. Startled, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Huh?”

The people around us, who had been frozen in place, started moving in slow motion. Suddenly, I was pulled back. My body, tensed in anticipation of impact, stumbled. Someone supported me from behind, preventing me from falling. At the same time, the surrounding people and the PC bang owner rushed towards us.

“Seriously, f*ck…”

The delinquent was being held back by three men, his face contorted in a grimace. However, seeing as he wasn’t violently resisting, it seemed like he had just momentarily lost control. Since I hadn’t actually been hit, he seemed relieved that the situation could be salvaged. I didn’t want to make things worse, so I averted my gaze. I wanted to avoid trouble as much as possible.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes… thank you.”

My eyes met the person who had saved me. It was a girl who looked to be a high school student. When our skin touched earlier, I vaguely remembered the soft touch unique to women. By the way, I felt like I had seen her somewhere before.

Droopy eyes, a neat face with a strangely comforting and gentle impression. I didn’t think there would be many girls around with such a distinctive aura. Who was she?

It didn’t really matter. It was probably a one-sided recognition. Considering that I only went outside for school, and we met at a PC bang near my house, she likely went to the same school. And I didn’t have any relationships with anyone at school. Therefore, this deduction was almost perfect.

“Should I call the police?”

“No, it’s fine. I insulted him too… and he didn’t actually hit me. Thank you. I’ll be going now.”

I bowed my head and turned around. Subconsciously tuning out the sound of footsteps following me, I unlocked my phone as usual.

“Eek?”

Suddenly, the girl leaned in and whispered something in my ear. I was so startled that I flinched. However, the phrase was so familiar, and so unexpected from this person in this place, that my mind went blank. “Kotori no oyatsu ni shichauzo!”

“…What are you doing?”

“Huh? You don’t know?”

“…Chun chun.”

It was Kotori’s character response line. When Kotori’s voice actress, Uchida Aya, said that line at live events, it was customary for the audience to respond with “Chun chun!” Now that I think about it, she kind of resembles Kotori. I had assumed that all women who liked male-oriented otaku content would be ugly, based on my observations at Love Live events, but rarely, there were exceptions to my prejudice.

Maintaining my composure as best as I could, I moved my facial muscles into something resembling a smile – probably – quickly paid, and pushed open the PC bang door.

“…Hmm.”

A faint sigh reached me from behind.