Chapter 26: New type

“Senpai ……, please don’t ever let go of my hand…….?”

　Shino squeezed my hand.

” No, …… why are you pretending to be weak?　You’re not scared are you?
“O-of course…..”

　Shino looked around nervously.

　Huh? This girl is really freaking out?

　I nodded my head and pulled Shino’s hand to continue on.

“I hate yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

　A ghostly figure jumped out at us.

　The triangular cloth on his head made me feel somewhat relieved.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

　Shino screamed out and hugged me.

“O-oi!　Shino!”

“I want to go outsideeeeeeeeeeee!　I wanna go outside!

“Hahahahaha!　Are you really crying?　What happened to your usual bravado?　Hahahaha!”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

　With tears in her eyes, Shino clung to me tightly and wouldn’t let go.

　I’m starting to think she’s cute all of a sudden.

　After that, I continued to enjoy the haunted house, laughing out loud at Shino’s reactions.

　The guys at the haunted house must have been very satisfied.

“You laugh too much, senpai!”

“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think you had it in you to be so cute.”

“Eh, ah, i-is that so…..?”

　Shino started playing with her bangs and fell silent.

　We continued to enjoy the rides, shooting guns, pedaling on the rails, and entering the arcade.

“Senpai, Senpai!　Please get me that!”

　Shino pointed to a stuffed animal in the crane game.

　It’s a very creepy character with a parakeet head and a naked body from the neck down. It is said that his name is God of War.

“…… You have pretty bad taste, though?”

“Hurry up, hurry up!”

{1 (Get the God of War.) }

{2 [I’ll take the place of the God of War] (Strip naked and do a double-biceps pose.) }

Seriously, ……!　If this goes badly, I’m going to lose a lot of money!

　I focused all of my attention on the crane and operated it.

　The crane successfully hooked onto the God of War’s neck and brought him to the top of the hole.

　Gakon!　It falls into the extraction hole.

“Amazing, Senpai!　It’s really too creepy to take it out in one go!”

“No, you should praise me properly.”

　Well, whatever it was, it was good that I got it for 100 yen.

　I was prepared to lose tens of thousands at worst.

“Oh?　[Black Iron Warrior] I see you have it here too.”

“Yeah, that’s the one in the living room. Is this interesting?”

“Yeah, so much so that I’m thinking of skipping school. –Do you want to try it?”

“Yes!　By all means!”

　I didn’t expect Shino to come on board.

　I thought she hated games and gamers.

　I taught Shino the basics of the game, just moving the plane.

“—-Then, for the first time, you’ll set up your own plane. I know you don’t know much about it, so just use the default one. It’s a balanced model.”

“No, I want to customize it myself.”

　Really?　This girl has the makings of a gamer!

　I got very excited and started to explain the weapons and parts.

“Well, I’ll take this one!”

“That’s a pretty interesting configuration. To be honest, I like it a lot.”

　Shino chose a heavy aircraft, equipped with a bit ejection unit on its back, an oversized heavy particle cannon in its right hand, a shield in its left hand, and mine ejectors on both hips.

　The configuration completely abandons mobility and focuses on durability and firepower.

　While the enemy is distracted by the bit, you can attack with the heavy particle cannon, and if they come at you, you can kill them with mines.

　It’s not a style that a beginner would choose. I could feel the heat in my heart from the way she was playing.

“Okay, let’s play against them.”

“Yes!　I’m looking forward to it!”

　I sat down at the cabinet next to Shino and inserted the card that contained my data.

　I operated the touch panel and selected the online 3v3 death match.

　Me, Shino, and one stray player would be on the same team.

　Our opponents are of medium to low level.

　If I follow her well, she won’t be shot down right away.

　I want to make it as fun as possible for her, because I want to gain as many fans as possible.

“Shino, don’t go forward or you’ll be shot.”

“Yes!　I’ll cover for Senpai!”

　The match began.

　The allied stray approaches the enemy rapidly, using missiles to create a barrage.

　I guess they are planning to bring the fight to the sword.

　The strategy itself was not bad.

　However, he is genuinely lacking in skill.

　The way they put up the barrage is messy and the route is monotonous.

　The strays came under concentrated fire and were easily destroyed.

“Eh!?　That guy’s already been killed?　Oh no!”

“Yare yare, I’m in trouble. I’ll show that stray what I’m made of.”

　I aim my large-caliber sniper rifle at the enemy’s weapon.

　The enemy, not liking this, quickly closed the distance.

　The sniper rifle is powerful and has a long range, but it takes time to lock on and has a low rate of fire.

　Therefore, when they are fleshed out, they are nearly incapacitated.

“—–But that’s just a generalization.”

　I cut one of them in half with my anti-ship sword and pierced the cockpit of the other one right next to it with my sniper rifle.

“I don’t need a lock to get a hit.”

　A large-caliber sniper rifle at very close range can destroy up to a medium-weight cockpit with a single blow.

　I can go from short range to long range with a single sniper rifle.

“Well, one more thing…”

“You did it, Senpai!”

　The word “victory” appears on the screen.

　Shino had killed one of them by firing all of her weapons at once.

　When we left the game center, it was already dark.

　Shino had become addicted to the game, and we played against each other repeatedly after that. I was glad to see the number of believers increasing.

“I didn’t think you’d be able to go that far.”

“Fufun Playing games is so much fun!　–Oh, senpai!　It’s already nighttime, let’s ride that thing!”

“The Ferris wheel. …… Okay, let’s go!”

“Yes!”

　It’s a classic date attraction.

　I forgot about the fact that it was a fake date and got in line.

　–But then, I was reminded that I was just a training ground.

“What?　Yagami-kun?　And Shino-san?”

“Ichijo?!”

“Ichijo-senpai!?

　Unbelievably, a fresh and handsome Ichijo was standing in line in front of us.

“Who is that guy?”

“Isn’t that Yagami from Class D?”

“She’s Sakurako-sensei and Himari’s sister, right?”

“Ah, she’s the manager of the soccer team, right?”

　It seems that Ichijo has come to play with two boys and two girls from other classes, a total of five people.

　This is really the way rear people play. It was annoying.

“So you two are dating, huh.”

{1 [” Yeah!　I’m proud of her!”] }

{2 [“Haha, she’s just my girlfriend.”] }

{3 [“No, we’re just here to check out an event.”] }

　Oh, you prepared an unusually witty line.

“No, we’re just here to check out an event.”

　Shino would be very satisfied with this answer.

　I thought so, and looked at her expression, but she had a sad look in her eyes. Why?

“I don’t know. But I’m surprised that you two knew each other.”

　Everyone doesn’t know that I’m being taken care of by the Rurikawa family.

　 They keep it a secret because it would cause a lot of trouble.

“Next guest, please.”

　In the meantime, our turn came.

“Okay, then, we should go first.”

“Yeah.”

　The boys and girls from the other classes paired off and got in.

“Next customer…”

“Ichijo, you’re up first.”

“Okay.”

　Another man and a woman boarded the gondola.

　Ichijo was left behind. I was surprised at the unexpected turn of events.

　…… Hmm?　Wait a minute.

　I see, Ichijo and Shino are riding together. As usual, the thirdwheel is me.

“The next customer, please.”

“Yes.”

　Ichijo gets into the gondola.

……But Shino didn’t move. Don’t tell me you’re nervous?

“Oi Shino?　This is your chance, okay?”

“…… Yes, it is.”

“Get in?　This is what you’ve been practicing for.”

“……Right”

“That’s right, you–“

Rattle.

　The gondola in which Ichijo rode has been closed.

“Aaaah, what are you doing? …… You have more guts than I thought……”

　Shino remained silent and still. –Yikes, did I offend her?

“The next customer, please.”

“Then, shall we Shino?”

“Yes!”

　We got on the gondola facing each other.

Author’s note:

Secrets of the Yagami siblings and the three Rurikawa sisters (6) Names

The three Rurikawa sisters are named after flowers.

Sakurako: Cherry blossom (Sakura)

Himari: Sunflower (Himarari)

Shino: Hydrangea (Ajisai)